A MAN who assaulted a police officer while he was serving a suspended sentence will not be going to prison.

Thomas Andrew Feltham, of The Wirr in Steeple Langford, beat officer Ryan Mears in Melksham on August 31.

The 29-year-old was serving a suspended prison sentence when he assaulted Mr Mears but magistrates did not active it.

At a hearing in Salisbury Magistrates Court on Friday, January 5, the bench found completion of the community requirements and Feltham's mitigation "exceptional reasons" not to activate the suspended custodial sentence.

The original offences for which Feltham was given a suspended prison sentence included racially or religiously aggravated fear/provocation of violence by words or writing, four counts of assault by beating an emergency worker and damaging a police telephone.

All of these offences took place on March 27, 2021, and Feltham was committed to prison for 12 weeks suspended for 18 months on March 21, 2022.

Feltham was ordered to pay £150 compensation to Mr Mears and had to pay a further £450 to the court.

He was fined £50 for committing a further offence during a suspended sentence order.