NORTH Yorkshire’s Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner says he will write to the courts every time someone is being sentenced for assaulting a 999 worker to press for them to be jailed.

Philip Allott spoke out after revealing that 700 emergency workers have been assaulted in the past 12 months in York and North Yorkshire - with 177 suffering injuries.

He argued that in almost all cases, someone convicted of assaulting an emergency service worker should go to prison.

He said the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill would mean the maximum sentence for anyone found guilty of assaulting an emergency service worker, such as by thumping, kicking, pushing, shoving or spitting, was doubled to two years but claimed that a non-custodial sentence or a fine was too often the punishment handed out.

“The sheer number of crimes where an emergency worker has been assaulted in North Yorkshire and York over the past year shocked me, and I know it will shock all those reading them too," he said.

“These are individuals who are on the frontline and putting themselves in harm’s way who are being assaulted while working hard to protect us. It is only right we do everything we can to protect them in return by ensuring those who attack them go to prison.

“I completely back the doubling of the maximum sentence to two years and hope the law can be changed as quickly as possible.

"But, let’s be clear, those convicted can already be given a custodial sentence and all too often this punishment is not the one they receive. As these numbers show, the punishment handed out does not appear to be stopping offences. That must change.

“In my view, it’s simple – when someone attacks an emergency service worker, and unless they are detained under section 136 of the Mental Health Act, nothing less than a custodial sentence will do and I will be writing to the court, at the time of sentencing, for anyone convicted of assaulting a police officer, PCSO, paramedic, firefighter or transport police in North Yorkshire and York to make that case.

“I want everyone across North Yorkshire and York to know that this is our position. There is never an excuse for assaulting those public servants who are there to keep us safe.

"If convicted of an attack, I will do all I can to ensure they face imprisonment which is the punishment they deserve. For those still intent on attacking emergency workers, please don’t subsequently say you were not warned.”