Jailed: Driver hit Pc as he sped off 'in panic'

Dylan Coffin panicked after recognising Pc Aaron Pugh who was climbing from an unmarked car that had deliberately tried to block him in at Sainsbury's supermarket fuel station in Blackheath.

The 22-year-old prolific offender accelerated from the petrol pump where a friend was filling up the Seat which police had been hunting for several days after it failed to stop when requested, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard.

The car hit the open driver's door and left Pc Pugh with a back injury that kept him off work for eight weeks, revealed Mr Nicholas Smith, prosecuting.

The injured officer had dealt with him in relation to another matter just days earlier and Coffin was heard to shout 'It's Pugh' before making the rapid exit.

The Seat Leon was first spotted in Long Lane, Blackheath, and seen again minutes later on the garage forecourt of Sainsbury's in nearby Halesowen Street on June 28 last year

Mr Smith explained: "The defendant, who was behind the wheel, recognised Pc Pugh and drove off leaving the other man looking quite shocked with a petrol pump nozzle in his hand. The Seat struck the officer a glancing blow while hitting the open driver's door through which Pc Pugh was leaving the vehicle."

The incident caused a pre-existing problem to flare up in a disc in the victim's back necessitating eight weeks off work. Coffin insisted that he had not intended to hurt the man.

The defendant was driving a VW Passat when finally arrested after a high speed chase through Tipton and Oldbury during which he drove through red traffic lights on July 3. He has been dealt with separately for that offence. Mr Tim Talbot-Webb, defending, said: "He is a man who likes cars even though he doesn't have a proper licence.

"This happened when he was trying to get off the filling station forecourt in something of a panic."

Coffin, of no fixed address, who had 15 previous convictions involving 27 separate offences, pleaded guilty to assaulting Pc Pugh, driving dangerously in Sainsbury's car park and damaging the driver's door of an unmarked police car.

He was jailed for 15 months and banned from driving for a year by Recorder Ciaran Rankin.