A 20-YEAR-OLD has been handed an 18-month sentence for multiple offences, including possession of indecent images and assaulting emergency workers by punching, kicking and spitting at them.

Thomas Michael Beswick, of London Road in Holmes Chapel, appeared at Chester Crown Court today, April 29, charged with various offences after his offending ‘snowballed’ over the past six months.

Up until October, 2021, Beswick had no convictions to his name – but Judge Michael Leeming said he had ‘certainly made up for it’ since.

Beswick’s offending first came to light on August 18, 2021, when officers acting on information from the National Crime Agency concerning indecent images of children attended his home address.

They found he has downloaded four category A, five category B and three category C images, a majority of which featured girls aged between 10 and 15.

During interview, Beswick said he had been drinking and visited an online chat room where a user sent him pornographic images.

When asked if he wanted to be sent pictures of children, Beswick accepted, but could not say why he did so.

Four months later, on December 22, the court heard how a member of staff at Crewe Railway Station asked Beswick if he had a ticket to travel, after seeing him attempting to gain access to the station.

Beswick ran off to other platforms and colleagues came to assist the member of staff.

The prosecution said this appeared to agitate Beswick, who pushed the member of staff backwards and ran to another platform, boarding a train and trying to hide in the toilet.

When the member of staff attempted to remove him from the train, Beswick spat at him and punched him.

When police arrived, he refused to sit up in the police vehicle and also spat at an officer.

Carrying on with this behavior, on December 30, police attended a call about a concern for safety, after members of the public noticed a man throwing himself in front of moving vehicles.

The court heard how this was the defendant and he initially compliant as he was taken back home in a police vehicle.

Once they had arrived, he started to hit the inside of the car and when an officer went to speak to him, he threw a punch.

He also kicked out at officers, kicking one in the chest, and was using racially offensive language.

Beswick also appeared in Crown Court for the theft of two boxes of beer, but there was no separate punishment for this matter.

Beswick had previously been handed a 16-week sentence suspended for 12 months for being in possession of a bladed article - and the latest offences meant he was now in breach of this.

Mr Sampson, defending, said Beswick pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity and until the beginning of October 2021, had no convictions.

He said the arrest for possession of indecent images ‘set everything off’, but Beswick was ‘absolutely disgusted’ by his behaviour.

The court heard how this was endorsed by a police officer, who heard Beswick exclaim, ‘Oh My God, what have I done?’ when the effects of alcohol had worn off, and by the probation service.

Mr Sampson said: “When the defendant is drinking, he does not know what he is doing.”

The court was also told that Beswick’s mental health problems and the stress of appearing in court previously had caused him to ‘snowball’.

His character references speak highly of him, he added.

Judge Leeming said the offences were so serious that only an immediate custodial sentence could be justified.

He added: “The spitting was during the course of the pandemic when people were even more concerned about the potential of infection.”

He was sentenced to 18 months in a young offender institution.

He is also subject to a sexual harm prevention order and must sign the Sex Offender register for 10 years.