Man avoids jail after violent struggle with police

Thursday 08 April 2021

A 37-year-old man, who threatened to throw a male police officer down a flight of stairs and kicked a female officer in the knee, has avoided being sent to jail.

Shane Derek Lloyd was sentenced by the Royal Court yesterday (Wednesday 7 April) for two counts of grave and criminal assault. He also faced one charge of sexual touching without consent.

Although the prosecution were calling for an 18-month prison sentence, the Court opted for a 12-month probation order and 180-hour community service order. This was primarily to protect Lloyd’s positive relationship with a family member.

Outlining the facts of the case, Crown Advocate Lauren Hallam said that Lloyd was drunk in December 2020 in the Co-op Grand Marché near the Town Park. 

He verbally abused staff when one of his cash notes, which was ripped, was rejected by the automatic payment machine. The store called the police and an officer arrived, who asked him to leave the supermarket.

Pictured: Police were called to the Grand Marché when Lloyd became abusive after an automatic checkout failed to accept his ripped cash.

Outside, Lloyd then started shouting and swearing at the officer, who arrested him for disorderly conduct, but Lloyd then pulled away and ran back to his home opposite and up some external steps.

At the top, despite being sprayed with disabling PAVA spray, he grabbed an officer and threatened to throw him down the stairs.

With more police arriving, Lloyd became increasingly violent and kicked back at an officer, which caused her intense pain and bruising. 

Having calmed down and walked down the stairs, Lloyd started becoming aggressive again and was restrained, face down on the floor.

The sexual offence, meanwhile, related to Lloyd grabbing a woman's crotch. While he made a sexual remark at the time, the Court heard that the touching was not sexually motivated but instead intended to humiliate and degrade the victim.

Defending Lloyd, Advocate Julia-Anne Dix said that he apologised for his “disgraceful and disgusting behaviour”. 

“This would not have happened without drink being involved,” she said, adding that on the day he lashed out at the police officers, he had been “drinking brandy in his late mother’s memory and he drank to excess to deal with his emotions.”

She added that he was particularly “mortified” over the sexual touching offence. 

Pictured: Advocate Julia-Anne Dix defended Lloyd.

Advocate Dix called for a non-custodial sentence, arguing that a prison sentence would serve no-one, not least a family member who will be severely impacted should he be sent to jail.

“If given the chance for a non-custodial sentence, he can keep his job as a qualified asbestos remover, contribute to the community, pay compensation to the police and address his alcohol problems,” she said.

Deputy Bailiff Robert MacRae, who was sitting with Jurats Blampied and Averty, said that the Court agreed with reports that the touching was not sexually motivated but was more to humiliate and degrade the victim.

Passing sentence, he said that it was right that the police looked to the courts to protect them in their line of duty but, in this instance, Lloyd‘s clear remorse and, more importantly, his family circumstances meant that a non-custodial sentence was appropriate.

Lloyd‘s name was also added to the Island’s sex offenders’ register for two years.