Man charged with 'purposefully' wiping saliva on supermarket products
5 April 2020, 15:36
A 20-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly wiping his saliva on products in a Dorset supermarket.
The man entered the Lidl store on St Andrews Road in Bridport wearing a face mask and gloves at about 2pm on Friday, Dorset Police said.
He was seen to lower the mask and lick his fingers before "purposefully" rubbing them onto an item in the store.
The force said following inquiries, the individual was arrested and charged with an offence of contaminating or interfering with goods with intent under Section 38 of the Public Order Act 1986.
He is due to appear before Weymouth Magistrates' Court on May 6.
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Dorset Police said the suspect did not have a confirmed case of Covid-19 and was not displaying any symptoms.
Greater Manchester Police said a woman had been charged with three counts of assaulting an emergency worker after a nurse was punched and two security guards were spat at in Bolton at 2.30pm on Saturday.
Louise Adams, 58, was remanded in custody to appear at Manchester and Salford Magistrates' Court on Monday, the force said.
On Thursday, a man from Merseyside has been jailed for six months for spitting and coughing at NHS workers who were trying to treat him.
David Newton, 50, from Liscard on the Wirral was being treated at Arrowe Park Hospital in the early hours of Thursday morning when he became violent.
As hospital workers treated him, he started kicking out at staff, swearing at them and then coughing and spitting at workers who didn't have protective equipment on.
Newton was taken out of the unit by the police but continued to kick out at security guards.
He was charged with assaulting an emergency worker, pleaded guilty at Wirral Magistrates’ Court and was given an immediate jail term of six months and ordered to pay £300 in compensation.
