By Gordon Currie
Contributor
A police officer was left scarred for life after a whisky and cocaine-fuelled businessman managed to sink his teeth into her leg during his arrest.
PC Claire Nellies was left with a large purple scar on her leg after Kyle Clark clamped his teeth into her calf outside a live music venue.
Dundee Sheriff Court heard that the officer sustained a second scar as Clark managed to bite her through her uniform in the city in November last year.
The culprit is now facing a jail term.
The court was told that PC Nellies had to take time out from playing with her football team and that her home life had been significantly affected by the assault.
She was left with a two-inch long scar on her leg and was absent from work for around 20 days, while she also had to get a booster against Hepatitis B.
Fiscal depute Andrew Brown said officers attended because of reports about Clark, 27, acting erratically and aggressively outside the LiveHouse venue in the city.
Brown said: “At 1.20am, staff outside LiveHouse contacted police regarding the accused trying to assault members of the public. Door staff restrained the accused.
“PCs Snowden and Nellies were flagged down. PC Nellies started to place cuffs on the accused. After one cuff was placed on his wrist, he violently resisted arrest and broke free.
“Officers managed to take hold of the accused and he was taken to the ground by the door staff in order to regain control.
“While falling to the floor, the accused landed on top of PC Nellies. He then deliberately bit her left thigh through her clothing.
“She shouted for him to stop, however, he continued to bite down on the leg with pressure. She was then able to remove her leg from under the accused’s body.
“During this process he again intentionally bit her lower leg. She continued to shout at him to release his grip. He continued to refuse, resulting in her being forced to kick him to the head.
“During the time he was biting PC Nellies others were trying to place handcuffs on him. She managed to break free and was injured and distressed.
“Further police units were called to attend due to his level of aggression. The accused was placed in cuffs because he was extremely hostile and violent.”
A search was carried out and he was found to have a bag of white powder which tested positive for cocaine.
Clark, from Dundee, admitted assaulting PC Nellies by repeatedly biting her leg to her injury and permanent disfigurement outside LiveHouse in Dundee. He also admitted having the Class A drug.
Brown told the court: “The officer required a Hep B booster, and antibiotics, and she was informed the wounds were likely to scar due to the bites removing skin and tissue.
“Her left thigh has a small, circular red scar. The bite to her left calf left a large purple scar around two inches in length.”
“You quite rightly understand there can only be one outcome here for what was an appalling assault”
Sheriff Gregor Murray
Solicitor Lynsey Barber, defending, said: “He is a bit of an enigma. He has his own business, with eight members of staff, in an industrial welding company.
“He has two young children. He lost his grandfather and father last year and was not coping well with the bereavement.
“On the day, he had availed himself of a significant – and I mean significant – amount of whisky, spirits being his downfall.
“He was feeling extremely low and behaved in the repugnant manner described. The implications for the officer are not lost on Mr Clark.”
Sheriff Gregor Murray deferred sentence for reports and no motion was made by Clark for bail.
He told Clark: “I need reports to help work out how long your custodial sentence is going to be.
“You quite rightly understand there can only be one outcome here for what was an appalling assault.”
In April 2019, Clark was jailed for two years for smashing a stolen van through the window of a bookmakers shop where he lost his wages on a fixed odds betting machine.
He stole two vans from a former employer and used one of them to take drunken revenge on the Ladbrokes shop where he had mounted up debts on the gaming terminals.
Perth Sheriff Court was told Clark had blown his entire wages in the space of a few hours and bore a grudge against the bookmaker.
He left a £13,000 trail of damage and was banned from driving for 33 months after he admitted being three times over the limit.
Clark later told police: “I took that van with the full intention of crashing into a bookmakers. They ruin people’s lives, man. Damn the bookies.”