A THUG who headbutted a female police officer in Worcester is due to be sentenced today while we could get verdicts in the trial of a police officer accused of rape.

Telmo Amaral Fernandes headbutted the officer while he was handcuffed in the back of a marked police car at Worcestershire Royal Hospital in Worcester, causing her swelling and dizziness which ultimately led to her being diagnosed with a concussion.

Read about alleged attack with Hoover

Meanwhile, the jury is still out in the case of Michael Darbyshire. The 55-year-old West Mercia Police officer is accused of raping a woman he met at the White Hart pub in Fernhill Heath and five counts of sexual assault. There are two complainants in the case, both of whom cannot be identified.

The jury retired shortly after noon yesterday but had not reached verdicts and so were sent home for the day. This morning the jury resumes its deliberations.

A report on the police officer rape trial from yesterday

We previously reported in the case of Fernandes how officers had been called to the hospital car park following reports of a male driving erratically.

Fernandes was stopped after he had caused damage to a number of other vehicles.

The court heard that the 40-year-old previously drove off with an officer hanging onto his car as Judge Nicolas Cartwright warned him he was at risk of custody because of his previous conviction for dangerous driving.

However, because Fernandes of Wood Terrace, Worcester, had arrived at Worcester Crown Court without legal representation, the judge adjourned the case on the last occasion.

The defendant was asked by the judge to contact a solicitor as soon as he left the court building at the hearing earlier this month.

The judge urged Fernandes to do this 'straight away' and told him the address of the solicitors firm who had represented him at an earlier hearing at magistrates court.

Fernandes had already admitted assault occasioning actual bodily harm upon the officer following the attack while he was handcuffed inside a police car on October 1 last year.

He had been listed at Worcester Crown Court for sentence following his conviction for ABH at Worcester Magistrates Court at a hearing on February 4 this year when he was represented by the duty solicitor, Mark Turnbull.

The defendant, a customer service assistant, had told the judge that he had been informed he was not entitled to legal aid and that he did not believe he could afford to be represented privately by either a barrister or a solicitor. However, when asked if he did think he should be represented Fernandes replied: "I believe so. I wish to be represented if possible."

Judge Cartwright told Fernandes on the last occasion: "Particularly given your previous conviction in 2012 involving dangerous driving with a police officer hanging off the side of the car you must realise you're at serious risk of going to custody."