Officer is bitten by HIV prisoner

The Police Federation has called for an asylum seeker with HIV to be deported, after he bit a police officer.

Handcuffed Mlungisi Moyo, 31, bit the Northumbria officer after being arrested in Gateshead on Tuesday.

The unnamed officer must wait three months to hear if he has been infected with the virus, or Hepatitis B, which Zimbabwean-born Moyo also carries.

Moyo was bailed when he appeared before magistrates, charged with assault and a string of driving offences.

Moyo, who settled on Tyneside in 2002, pleaded guilty to assaulting a police officer, drink-driving and driving with no licence or insurance.

'Trust and sanctuary'

Russ Watson, chairman of Northumbria Police Federation, called for a hefty sentence and for Moyo to be deported.

He said: "As a society we have opened our doors to asylum seekers and I have no problem with that.

"The problem exists when that individual throws the trust and sanctuary we have given him back in our faces by assaulting a Crown servant.

"That individual then gives up their right to remain in the United Kingdom, I think."

He added: "This officer now has to go through months of anguish. The risks may be small but it is one of the risks that you take on behalf of the public in trying to maintain law and order."

Ch Insp Steve Readdie, of Gateshead Area Command, said: "Policing can at times be a dangerous occupation but Northumbria Police officers are among some of the best-trained and best-equipped in the country."

The officer received a puncture wound to the left side of his head, cuts and bruises.

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