A NORTH Yorkshire man who pushed a police officer down a flight of stairs then half-strangled him was jailed for four years.

PC Gareth Stoneman-Roberts thought he was going to die as Philip Dean Wilson, 25, pressed his thumbs into his neck, Recorder Paul Worsley QC told York Crown Court.

The policeman said Wilson screamed uncontrollably as he tried to evade arrest on suspicion of criminal damage, and blocked the officer's attempts to call for help by radio or press a panic button.

He only broke off and fled when a woman bystander yelled: "Get off."

The attack dislocated the policeman's shoulder, and left him with other injuries including a nose streaming blood.

Ripon man Wilson, no fixed address, denied escaping from lawful custody and causing grievous bodily harm with intent to prevent himself being arrested. A jury convicted him in less than an hour on both charges.

The policeman told them he arrested Wilson and a friend in Wakeman Street, Ripon, shortly after midnight on March 13 on suspicion of criminal damage to an antique shop in the city.

Wilson ran off and hid in a nearby house. But the policeman tracked him down to a bedroom, where Wilson attacked him.

During a struggle on the landing the suspect pushed him down the stairs. At the bottom he tried to strangle him.

During his trial before York Crown Court sitting at Leeds, Wilson claimed that he had not been under arrest when he ran off and had only acted in self-defence in the house. The policeman had hit him first.

Updated: 10:49 Thursday, August 07, 2003