A thug launched a horror attack on a police officer and left him unconscious on the pavement.
The cop had responded to reports of an ‘aggressive and intoxicated man’ when he found the drunken Richard Nodwell.
After being confronted, the thug launched a brutal attack on him which left him with a fractured eye socket, broken cheek bone and broken nose.
Bodycam footage of the violence, which unfolded on December 20, shows the policeman initially pleading with the suspect to ‘show me your hands’ to which Nodwell, who has previous convictions, responds: ‘Don’t touch me, don’t touch my personal body!’
The injured officer PC Attwell, commentating on the video released by Gwent Police, then describes how he threatened to use his ‘spray’ in order to make the suspect comply.
With the smirking Nodwell becoming increasingly irate, PC Attwell attempts to grab the thug’s hands himself, which is when the criminal throws his first right hook.
As the policeman falls to the floor, the enraged thug continues his attack, throwing punches with both hands at the officer who lies wailing on the ground.
After throwing at least 12 blows in a heartless onslaught lasting some 50 seconds, Nodwell fled the scene leaving his victim unconscious.
But the criminal was found a short time later by two police officers who he also assaulted – spitting at one and biting the other.
Nodwell was immediately arrested by Gwent Police on suspicion of section 18 assault and two counts of assaulting an emergency worker before later being charged.
After pleading guilty, the thug was sentenced at Cardiff Crown Court to six years and four months in prison with an extended license of three years.
PC Attwell, who is doing well in his recovery, recalls not being able to sleep after the battering for fears that he wouldn’t wake up.
