Ex-rugby professional jailed for brutal attack on police officer

Ex-North Wales captain Maredydd Francis, 26, of School Lane, Southsea, Wrexham, was told by Judge Niclas Parry :”You are a powerful man with an explosive temper that you can’t control, a man who is prone to irrational violence and clearly a danger when you are crossed.”

Speaking at Caernarfon Crown Court, Judge Parry said: “On August 3, without explanation or warning, as described by your victim, you went from calm to raging bull in a split second. What followed was a ferocious sustained attack.

“Your victim, a police officer doing his work, had attended your property to request, in a civil way, you accompany him to the police station.”

The judge said an indication of Francis’s strength was that, as well as punching the officer, he grabbed him between the legs and dump-tackled him on a concrete area at his home. It took three officers, who arrived after Pc Richard Priamo pressed his radio emergency button, to restrain Francis, who admitted causing grievous bodily harm.

Judge Parry said the officer was in hospital for 10 days.

Third attack on a police officer

“I sentence you on the basis he made a full recovery and returned to work," he said. "But police officers are entitled to return from work without having been beaten up.”

It was Francis’s third attack on a police officer, although his previous record was old, the court heard.

Prosecuting counsel John Philpotts said Pc Priamo became aware of automatic number plate recognition “hits” on Francis’s Nissan car and he was wanted in Merseyside. He knew Francis, a groundworker, from his school days and went to the defendant’s home where he knocked on the door.

Mr Philpotts said Pc Priamo asked Francis, in a friendly and non-confrontational manner, to speak to him and said he had to be arrested. But Francis’s demeanour changed.

Defence barrister Philip Tully said Francis accepted it was an unpleasant and frightening incident for the officer and he was remorseful. There was a different side to Francis who had been a talented sportsman, representing North Wales, he said.

“He accepts what he did was wrong. He accepts he deserves to be punished,” Mr Tully added.