A Bath man whose trousers had slipped down as he was being arrested accused the police officer trying to pull them up of touching his genitals, calling him a “gay c***”.
Scott Whyte, of Bradford Park, who also made as if to spit at the officer, was before Bath magistrates on Wednesday 4th March to admit assaulting a police constable in the execution of his duty, and of using threatening or abusive words or behaviour likely to be cause harassment, alarm or distress.
The court heard from the Crown Prosecution Service that on 13th August 2025, Whyte was being arrested in Bath for a matter which subsequently did not come to anything.
But during the arrest, the 31-year-old said he was HIV positive and made a loud phlegm noise as if he was going to spit.
This caused “considerable distress” to the officer who thought he was going to be spat at by an infectious person.
Whyte was subsequently put in a spit hood and later admitted he did not have HIV.
The prosecutor said that Whyte’s trousers had come down as he was being restrained, and the officer had been trying to pull them up to protect his modesty when Whyte shouted: “Why did you touch my dick, you gay c***?”
Bradley Axam, representing Whyte as duty solicitor, told the court that the offences were “quite minor in the grand scheme of what’s charged”. He said no spit had actually been produced and there had been no physical contact.
Whyte had “instinctively” shouted “gay c***” as the officer had brushed his genitals, but it was not meant to be homophobic, said Mr Axam.
But in their sentencing, magistrates gave an uplift to the fine to reflect the discriminatory nature of Whyte’s comment. They fined him £200 for the assault and ordered him to pay £300 compensation to the officer.
Whyte was also fined £120 for the public order offence. In addition, he must pay £85 prosecution costs and a £128 court surcharge.
