A CONVICTED drug dealer has had his suspended jail term extended and been ordered to pay £300 compensation to a police officer after spitting in their face.

Cardiff Crown Court heard that Charlie Edmunds carried out an “insulting and frightening” assault on the officer at his Taff Road home in Caldicot last May.

Police arrived at the house to find him intoxicated and behaving in a “highly emotional state” before he started head-butting the front door.

When police tried to stop him hurting himself, Edmunds, a former chef at a Chepstow hotel, said: ‘‘You better let go of me” and spat in the face of the officer.

The court heard that the 21-year-old was subject to an 18-month suspended two-year prison term after a conviction in November 2020 for drug dealing.

Police had found him in his Fiat Bravo car late at night in June 2019 with 18 wraps of cocaine worth up to £540 that he said he was selling to pay off debts from his own drug use.

Carl Williams, for Edmunds, said he owed money to drug dealers and had feared for his own safety at the time of the assault.

His mother had since given him £400 to pay off the debt, and he was no longer in “physical danger”, he said.

Adding that the officer had been wearing a mask, Mr Williams said: “He has been remorseful from the outset, and has sincerely apologised to the officer.

“He believes he would struggle in prison and that would mean all the good work that has been done in relation to employment and rehabilitation would be lost.”

Judge Wayne Beard told Edmunds: “Spitting in the face of an officer was frightening, obviously because of the danger of passing on an infection which has killed many thousands of people in this country over the last year.

“But it is clear that you were suffering from depression and were trying to deal with that depression without medication.

“We have heard that your mental health was not in a good place at that time because of the additional pressure that criminal people you had become involved with were placing on you.

“You appear to be turning your life around now.”

Judge Beard extended the suspended sentence by six months, and he must do a further 150 hours of unpaid work on top of the 200 hours imposed last year, and attend 20 days of rehabilitation.

In addition to the £300 he has to pay the police officer, Edmunds was also ordered to pay a £95 victim surcharge.