Coronavirus: Criminals who cough on people to get harsher sentences under new proposals

Proposed changes would cover all common assaults in England and Wales, even if attackers do not claim to have coronavirus

Criminal offenders who cough or spit on victims will face harsher punishments under proposed sentencing changes, whether they claim to have coronavirus or not.

Deliberately coughing on emergency workers can already be punished with up to two years of imprisonment because of changes made by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) during the outbreak, but the new proposals would apply to all common assault offences in England and Wales.

A consultation document published by the Sentencing Council on Thursday said “a number of sentencers [judges and magistrates] thought that ‘spitting’ should be explicitly referenced as a factor increasing the seriousness of an offence”.

It added: “The council agreed that it should and, taking into account recent offending trends, the council has included ‘spitting or coughing’ as an aggravating factor.”

The changes would also allow sentences to be increased for the “intention to cause fear of serious harm, including disease”.

“This would include (but is not limited to) situations where common assault offences have been committed by offenders coughing and spitting at victims with a direct or implied threat of Covid-19 or other disease transmission,” the document said.

“Public-facing workers are particularly at risk from this type of offence, and a number of successful prosecutions have recently taken place.

“Where an offender intentionally spits or coughs at a victim, in situations such as the current epidemic, an intention to cause fear of transmission could be inferred even where there is no explicit assertion that an offender has a disease capable of transmission.”

Several people have been prosecuted with assaulting emergency workers by deliberately coughing on them during the coronavirus outbreak.

Last week, a suspected Covid-19 sufferer, 30-year-old Lance King, was jailed for a year after coughing in the face of two NHS hospital nurses in Staffordshire.

In the West Midlands, three men were jailed this month for coughing, spitting or threatening to infect people, including police officers, with coronavirus.

A spokesperson for the Sentencing Council said the proposals were not a direct response to the outbreak and that guideline revisions had already been due.

They will be considered in the context of the pandemic, but will not come into force until 2021.

Interim guidance on common assaults, which can include coughing, has already been provided to courts, saying that “threats or activity relating to transmission of Covid-19” should be treated as an aggravating factor.

Common assault can be punished by up to 26 weeks in prison, although less serious incidents can be punished with community sentences.

In 2018, assaulting emergency workers, including police and paramedics, was made a specific offence punishable by a year’s imprisonment.

Between November 2018 and 2019, almost 20,000 offences were charged under the Assaults on Emergency Workers (Offences) Act.

Justice minister Chris Philp said: “Never has the debt of gratitude we owe our emergency workers been greater – they are heroes who risk their lives to keep us safe.

“These guidelines send a clear message that those who seek to harm them will feel the full force of the law.”

The Sentencing Council’s consultation also covers proposed revisions to guidance for attempted murder, to ensure that it reflects changes to legislation around increased sentences for murder where a weapon is taken to the scene.

Proposals also include introducing a greater number of seriousness categories and sentence starting points for actual bodily harm and grievous bodily harm.

The consultation, which is open to the public as well as legal practitioners, will be open until 15 September.