Man who coughed at police claiming he had coronavirus has been jailed

A MAN has been jailed for four months after coughing at police and labelling himself as a ‘super spreader’ of coronavirus.

Police stopped Christopher McKendrick, 58, after witnesses saw claimed he was brandishing a two-foot piece of wood above his head.

When officers approached him on a canal towpath in Swarkestone, South Derbyshire at 3.30pm last Thursday and asked if he had coronavirus, and a “super spreader” before deliberately coughing at them.

Appearing at Southern Derbyshire Magistrates’ Court on Friday, McKendrick reportedly admitted common assault, possession of an offensive weapon, assaulting an emergency worker and using threatening, abusive, insulting words or behaviour to cause harassment, alarm or distress.

He was handed a 16 week jail term and ordered to pay a £122 victim surcharge.