A CRIMINAL with a “disgusting and very cowardly” way of assaulting people has been jailed for a series of crimes.

Daniel James Prague, 22, has twice misbehaved at court as the authorities tried to bring him to justice, York Magistrates' Court heard.

On the second occasion, he spat on the hair of a woman who was a stranger to him and was only at court to support her husband, said Martin Butterworth, prosecuting.

Prague was at court to stand trial for spitting at a shop security officer and attempting to break into a man’s house at midnight.

On an earlier occasion, district judge Adrian Lower had to deal with Prague for behaving in such a way that he was in contempt of court.

Sentencing him for a list of crimes, the judge told Prague: “Your behaviour in respect of these offences is more of the same.”

He said of the spitting: “This appears to be a habit of yours and not a particularly attractive one.”

Earlier he had said: “Spitting is a very disgusting and very cowardly way of assaulting someone.”

Staff at Costcutter in Ripon had called police because they believed Prague had shoplifted at the store previously.

Prague had been annoyed because he believed he was innocent, so while police were waiting for transport to take him to a police station, he had spat at the shop worker, without hitting him.

The shop worker was only doing his job, the judge said.

Prague, of Elm Road, Ripon, pleaded guilty to assaulting the woman at Harrogate Magistrates' Court and possessing cannabis at Costcutters in Ripon.

He denied attempted burglary of a Harrogate house and assaulting the shop assistant, but was convicted in his absence after he was arrested for assaulting the woman.

He admitted failure to attend court for an earlier hearing in the case of assaulting the shop assistant.

He was jailed for 26 weeks and ordered to pay £100 compensation to the woman, and £50 each to the shop worker and the house owner.

Mr Butterworth said Prague was caught on CCTV as he tried the patio door of the Harrogate house and opened the kitchen door which banged into a bin. He didn’t enter the house.

Martin Townend, for Prague, said he had only spat in the “general direction” of the shop worker.

At Harrogate Magistrates' Court in January, he had been vaping in the queue to go through security.

A security officer had told him he couldn’t vape in the court building and he had “taken it in the wrong way”.

“He spat in the general direction of the officer, unfortunately the member of the public walked in front and he hit her in the hair. He regrets that,” said Mr Townend.

Prague had mental health issues which meant he could flare up quickly and react in an extreme way. 

At the time of the offences he had a drug problem, the court heard. 

He had been under pressure to pay a £2,000 drug debt which he was struggling to pay, said Mr Townend.