Man had razor blade in mouth tasered by police in Southend

Darren Leigh has been spared jail following the prolonged incident with police in Southend - which ended with him getting tasered.

The 31-year-old of Hastings Road, Southend, had been made homeless at the time of the incident on May 3 and was staying at an address for homeless people in Hastings Road.

Concerns were raised that Leigh was not following the rules of the hostel, and that a concern was raised from a woman sharing the same room as him.

Leigh then barricaded himself inside the room along with the woman, and police were called.

After some negotiation, Leigh let the woman out but refused to leave himself, and made threats to the police, threatened to harm himself and claimed he had a weapon.

He went on to damage parts of the property, including a door and toilet seat, before fleeing out of a window.

He jumped onto a roof of a parked car, and at this point police officers tasered him, and he was detained.

As he was arrested, Leigh said he had a razor blade inside his mouth, which was then spotted by one of the officers, and as a precaution Leigh was taken to hospital.

At one point while he was in custody, he also spat on a police officer.

Leigh was later charged with and admitted two counts of affray, criminal damage, having an offensive weapon and assaulting an emergency worker.

He was sentenced at Basildon Crown Court yesterday.

Mitigating, Chris Whitcombe told the court that at the time Leigh had gone through a “perfect storm” of personal issues at the same time which led to his behaviour, including being evicted from his home and struggling to find employment during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Recorder David Osborne told Leigh his actions were “disgraceful”, but chose to suspend his 17-month prison sentence.

He said: “There is just enough in my view to see it would be appropriate to suspend your sentence, I see some prospect for your rehabilitation.” Leigh was given 150 hours unpaid work and 40 days rehabilitation.