A violent thug who headbutted and spat at police during two cocaine-fuelled rampages has been jailed.
Chad Netherington was hauled into custody after being caught breaching a court order to stay away from his partner.
Netherington exploded at police officers in Dundee and Perth, unleashing a torrent of abuse, including threatening to eat their faces.
During one incident, Netherington flashed his genitals at officers.
“These are serious offences and reprehensible conduct towards police officers,” Sheriff Paul Brown told the repeat offender.
“There’s no alternative in my view to a substantial custodial sentence.”
Booted taxi
Dundee Sheriff Court heard Netherington, 33, was with his partner in Dundee at around 8pm on November 26 2022, despite being subject to bail conditions to stay away from her.
The pair planned on taking a taxi to Perth but only got as far as Perth Road when Netherington left the car while shouting and swearing, having been warned about his conduct by the driver.
The accused walked off in a “rage” before running towards the taxi and kicking the front passenger window.
The driver drove 30 yards, with the woman still in the car, to get away from Netherington before calling the police.
When speaking to officers, the driver said the pair were “as bad as each other”.
Netherington had a cut to his left cheek and a cut behind his right ear.
Prosecutor Andrew Harding said: “Checks were carried out on the accused, which showed he had the live bail condition in place.
“The accused immediately attempted to run away and the attending officers restrained him to the floor.
“The accused struggled violently and locked his hands together in front of his chest in an effort to avoid being placed in handcuffs.
“He said ‘I will f***ing bite you’ and began to kick out towards the officers, making efforts to spit, which did not make contact.”
A spit hood was applied and Netherington pretended to be unconscious in a police van after repeatedly banging his head.
Carnage in cell
He continued pretending to be “unresponsive” when taken to police headquarters on West Bell Street, before “springing to life” and kicking the police van door open.
A nurse had assessed him as fit to be in custody and Netherington was described as causing “serious disruption”.
He was carried to his cell and it took six officers to restrain him, before being left on constant observation.
Some of his remarks included: “I’m gonna kill you. I’m gonna find you and kill you. I hope your mum f***ing dies of AIDS.”
During this time, Netherington tried to spit through the cell hatch, urinated over the cell floor, forced his mattress into the toilet and repeatedly spat at the glass screen.
‘Eat faces’ threat
Officers were again terrorised by Netherington on June 15 2023 on Tweedsmuir Road in Perth where his partner answered the door following reports of a disturbance at about 9.25am.
Netherington – wearing only boxer shorts – was handcuffed due to his aggressive demeanour before “donkey kicking” an officer and threatening to kill others.
Mr Harding said Netherington shouted “I’m going to eat your faces” when he was taken to West Bell Street.
This episode saw Netherington flash an officer, threaten to defecate, try to headbutt an officer before leaving one officer bloodied after headbutting him.
He also deliberately spat at another officer’s arm.
Netherington, currently a prisoner at HMP Perth, pled guilty to the offences on both occasions.
Solicitor Paul Ralph said his client had recently suffered a heart scare due to his abuse of cocaine, which was “out of control” at the time of the offences.
Netherington was sentenced to 25 months in prison followed by a 12-month supervised release order.
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