Knifeman shouts support for Klu Klux Klan as he kicks police officer
Knifeman shouts support for Klu Klux Klan as he kicks police officer
Daniel Barnham had been carrying a steak knife, sock full of rocks and a lock knife
Daniel Barnham
(Image: South Wales Police )
A knifeman shouted his support for the KKK white supremacist group as he racially abused and assaulted a police officer. Daniel Barnham was being arrested for carrying two knives in public when he kicked the officer to the chest and launched into a vile tirade.
Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court heard the offences took place at 11pm on March 30 when CCTV operators from Merthyr Tydfil council spotted the 31-year-old walking around Penydarren Road in possession of a steak knife and a sock full of rocks. It would turn out the sock also contained a lock knife.
Police were called and saw Barnham — who had already thrown away the sock — standing on the street with a woman. When officers asked if he was carrying a blade, he threw the steak knife to the side.
Barnham was handcuffed and ushered towards the back of a police van. At this point he started resisting and called PC Tatlah the n-word as well as expressing support for the Ku Klux Klan race hate group.
He pushed against the back of the van and used his feet to prevent the cage door from closing, then kicked out several times. One of the kicks made contact with PC Tatlah's chest, although the officer was uninjured.
The court heard Barnham then reached out for the knife that he had thrown to the side but officers were able to take this from him.
The cage door painfully trapped PC Tatlah's hand for a moment before the officers eventually managed to close it and take Barnham to a police station, said prosecutor Elin Morgan.
In his interview Barnham said he had been using the steak knife while he was at his girlfriend's home and had forgotten it was in his pocket. The lock knife was for food preparation because he was homeless, he said.
The defendant apologised for abusing PC Tatlah and claimed he was not really a racist but had just been angry.
Barnham, of Arbutus Close in Gurnos, pleaded guilty to two counts of possessing a blade in public, one of assaulting an emergency worker and one of racially aggravated harassment.
He had 26 previous offences on his record including a 36-hour crime spree in 2018 when he armed himself with a knife and raided four Merthyr shops before being caught cowering in a cupboard. Those three robberies and one attempted robbery saw him handed a six-year jail term.
Barnham's barrister Hywel Davies explained his client had stormed out of a pre-sentence interview with the probation service because he was "upset and sensitive" about being classed as posing a "high risk" of re-offending.
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He had been caring for his mother and felt anxious over how his return to jail would affect her, said the barrister, who added that Barnham planned to work on anger management and hoped to build a relationship with his 10-year-old son.
Imposing an eight-month jail term, Judge Jeremy Jenkins described Barnham's behaviour as "disgraceful". He added: "It is intolerable that police officers cannot go about their duty without being assaulted by people like you."
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