A MAN whose blows caused a police officer to suffer mild concussion has been jailed for assault, criminal damage of a hotel room and a string of motoring offences.

Marius Saklas was handed a total of eight months’ imprisonment after he was sentenced at two Dorset courts in the space of four days.

Saklas, of Archers Road, Southampton, was also handed a six-year driving ban and had three vehicles he used when committing offences seized.

The assault was described as “totally wrong” and “totally unnecessary” by a judge.

Saklas, aged 37, appeared at Poole Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday, November 16, where District Judge Stephen Nicholls dealt with the defendant for 13 offences.

He had previously pleaded guilty to four counts of driving while disqualified, four counts of using a motor vehicle without insurance, two counts of drink driving, one count of failing to provide a specimen for analysis, one count of failing to surrender to custody and one count of criminal damage.

Bournemouth Echo: Marius SaklasMarius Saklas

The motoring matters related to incidents in Somerford Road, Christchurch, on December 15, 2020, Main Road, Walhampton, Lymington, on January 19, Christchurch Road, Boscombe, on July 4 and Glenville Road, Christchurch, on September 13.

The criminal damage involved him trashing furniture and other items in a room at the Roundhouse Hotel in Bournemouth on June 30.

Judge Nicholls sentenced Saklas to five months’ imprisonment, ordered him to pay £300 compensation to the hotel, disqualified him from driving for six years and issued a deprivation order for a Honda motorbike, a BMW 3 Series estate and a Volkswagen Golf.

Yesterday, Saklas appeared via video link from HMP Lewes for a sentencing hearing at Bournemouth Crown Court after he previously admitted assaulting PC Simon Hatch by beating him on December 15, 2020.

Prosecutor Simon Shannon said officers attended an address in Christchurch where they found the defendant asleep following a report of drink riding on a motorcycle at the Meteor Retail Park in Somerford Road.

Saklas provided a breath sample which suggested he was over the drink drive limit.

As officers attempted to place him in handcuffs he resisted.

“The defendant managed to get PC Simon Hatch into a headlock,” said Mr Shannon.

The prosecutor said: “He then struck him. Three blows either with a fist or elbow perhaps.”

PC Hatch’s colleague used incapacitating spray on the defendant before he was taken to the police station.

Mitigating, Mary Aspinall-Miles said Saklas’s life had “fallen off a cliff edge after his marriage broke down”.

“He effectively became an alcoholic,” she said.

Ms Aspinall-Miles said the defendant “now accepts and sees that he has an alcohol problem”.

Delivering the crown court sentence, Judge Brian Forster QC said the assault was “totally wrong, totally unnecessary and should never have happened”. The judge said: “You punched or elbowed him a number of times. He suffered mild concussion and had a lump to his head.”

He added: “Emergency workers carry out a valuable duty for all members of the public.

“Their job is often difficult. People are pleased to have their help when they come to their assistance.”

Assaults like those carried out by Saklas “take police officers off of the street so they now able to help people”, the judge added.

He jailed the the defendant for three months consecutive to the magistrates’ court sentence.

Judge Forster QC said he had done “the best I can to impose a fair and proper sentence and at the same time making it clear that no one should behave in this way”.

He said the overall eight months reflected the totality of all the offences.

In relation to the driving matters, Sergeant Lee Savage, of Dorset Police’s No Excuse team, told the Daily Echo: “We are committed to doing all we can to make Dorset’s roads safer and I am glad that we were able to bring Marius Saklas to justice for his repeated offending and he now faces a significant period being banned from the road.

“We will continue to work to ensure offending motorists are identified and face appropriate action and through initiatives such as our Op Dragoon scheme, we will proactively target those who pose the most risk to road users.

“If you suspect anyone is committed driving offences contact us online at www.dorset.police.uk, via email at 101@dorset.pnn.police.uk or call us on 101. If an offence is in progress, always dial 999.”

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