Does anyone know wht the prison sentence is for GBH and assaulting a police officer…?
It depends on the severity and the intent. Sec 18 assault is “with intent” and is tried in a crown court… it has a maximum sentence of life, but anything over about 8 years is rare. Sec 20 assault is where GBH is “inflicted”, so you may not have meant to do it, or just been wreckless as to whether it occurred or went a bit to far than just giving someone “a bit of a smack”. This can be tried in a magistrates court and the maximum sentence is 5 years. Assaulting police again depends on the severity of the assault. If minor and didn’t happen at the same time as the GBH it probably wouldn’t attract a custodial sentence, and can be dealt with by a magistrates court. If it was a serious assault and connected in some way to the GBH, then this may attract a few years.
GBH/ABH/assault If you were to cause actual injury to an individual, you could be charged with either grievous bodily harm (GBH) or assault occasioning actual bodily harm (ABH): Offences Against the Person Act 1861. If the injury was very serious then the charge would be GBH and if relatively minor then it could be ABH. There is however much room for argument as to whether particular injuries cause an offence to fall within one category or the other, for example a broken nose can be dealt with as either GBH or ABH. The current charging guidelines mean that where there is some bruising or scratching the charge is more likely to be common assault rather than ABH. Throwing a bottle, punching or kicking out, either intentionally or recklessly, which causes a person to expect immediate personal violence, can also be charged as common assault. Unwanted touching or shaking a fist at someone can also amount to a common assault. There is no need for any actual injury to have been caused. There
