AN Omagh man whose life lost all structure when he lost his job after 26 years continuous employment, was jailed at Omagh court on Tuesday after admitting to assaults on police and on his wife.

The court heard that on June 29 last year, Ronald Millar of Johnston Park, became obstructive when he was being transferred to Maghaberry, in connection with an earlier alleged incident. He punched a police officer in the face causing swelling to his eye and causing him to miss work for three weeks with recurrent headaches.

The court also heard that when police were called to an incident at Carnlea, Road, Fintona, they observed the accused punch his wife in the face. His bail conditions had excluded him from the site and when arrested he side-kicked and back-kicked officers. One officer suffered a sprained thumb. The defendant admitted the offences when he was interviewed under caution but remained unrepentant.

Defence counsel, Gavan Wall, instructed by Michael Fahy, solicitor, said that prior to losing his job in 2005, the defendant had been a productive member of society. He noted from a pre-sentence report from Probation Services that the defendant had been leading a nomadic lifestyle since then. He said that whereas the defendant drinks twice a week, he does not accept that he has an alcohol problem.

RM Greg McCourt noted that it was the quantities consumed and not the regularity of consumption which appeared to be of concern.

Mr Wall said that the defendant had accepted his guilt at an early stage , and explained the attack on police on the way to Maghaberry as a 'significant panic attack'. He proposed a combined probation order and suspended sentence as a carrot and stick approach to getting the defendant back on the track. However, Mr McCourt was having none of it. He noted from the defendant's record that this was his eighth assault on police and commented, "Nobody's going to get away with that in this court. This has been going on for too long, we can't over look this." He sentenced the accused to seven months imprisonment.

The accused was given bail at £200, to appeal his sentence.