Man with mental health issues sentenced for attacks

Wednesday 20 July 2016

A man with a long history of mental health issues has been sentenced for running off without paying for a meal, for a grave and criminal assault on a police officer who tried to arrest him, and a common assault on his girlfriend.

Thirty-three-year-old Jerseyman Leslie Bulpin had originally opted to stand trial but according to his defence lawyer, Advocate Lucy Marks, changed his plea to guilty to avoid excessive stress.

Bulpin is on medication to treat long-standing mental health issues which are compounded by a drink and drugs problem.

Police picked Bulpin up in November last year after his mother contacted them saying she was worried for his safety. After a short while in custody, he was released and went to the Seymour pub to have a celebratory meal. While he was there he started acting erratically. He was dancing on the floor on his own, pretending he had a gun in his hand, and “firing” it at the landlord; he then asked a woman to take him to the toilet. She refused.

When Bulpin came to pay the £38.45 for his meal he put his card in the machine and started waving it above his head. His payment was declined and he ran off. The landlord chased him. The police had also been called.

Video evidence from a body camera worn by the officer shows Bulpin picking up a five-foot stick that was on the floor and waving it at the officer. He later hit the officer, breaking the stick. The officer wasn’t injured, but used CS spray so he could safely arrest Bulpin.

In another incident Bulpin had also slapped his girlfriend after they got involved in an argument.

Defending Bulpin, Advocate Marks said most of her client’s problems stemmed from his mental health issues. He was in “a desperate situation." He ran away from the pub because he felt threatened, there’d been no force used in his attack on the officer, and the stick he used broke because it was so flimsy. The attack on his girlfriend had been provoked by her – she hit him first.

Sentencing, Deputy Bailiff Tim Le Cocq, said Bulpin’s mental health issues were a mitigating factor, but unless Bulpin continued to take his medication and to avoid drink and drugs he feared he’d soon be back in court. He sentenced Bulpin to two weeks’ imprisonment for not paying for the meal, and five months’ for the grave and criminal assault on the police officer, to be served at the same time.

Whilst Mr Le Cocq accepted Bulpin’s girlfriend had started the fight, he said it was still domestic violence in the home, something the court took very seriously, and sentenced Bulpin to two months’ imprisonment, to be served after he’d served the earlier five months.

Bulpin has been in prison since the attack on the officer in November, so has already served his sentence and was able to walk away after the court hearing.