POLICE officer Dean Hoskins has told a crown court he feared for his own safety when confronted by a very aggressive and threatening group.

Hoskins, a 32-year-old constable with Swindon Police, is on trial at Truro Crown Court for assault.

Hoskins, of Burdon Close, Stratton, is accused of assaulting Serif Kandemir, a 32-year-old Newquay kebab shop worker, causing him actual bodily harm. Mr Kandemir suffered a badly bitten thumb during an incident outside a nightclub in the early hours of November 28 last year.

A police sergeant has told the jury he threatened to use his CS gas cannister to get Hoskins to release his grip for fear the thumb would be bitten off.

Hoskins said that he went into Newquay with friends at the end of a two-day Territorial Army course at RAF St Mawgan. There was a minor incident with a man in a nightclub but it ended with a friendly shaking of hands. But as he left an aggressive Turkish man invited him to fight "one on one".

"I made it clear that I was not interested and we were leaving," he said.

"The group of Turkish males drew closer, they were aggressive, threatening, scary. It was clear Mr Kandemir was intent on fighting. I was in great fear for my safety."

Defence counsel Shaun Brunton pointed out it was then that Mr Kandemir put his hand to his pocket and took out his mobile phone. "Absolutely," replied Hoskins.

"But that is not what I saw at the time. It was the early hours, Mr Kandemir was shouting and insisting we fight one to one, his friends were very aggressive and moving around behind me.

"I saw him reach into his pocket and pull out something up to shoulder height. I thought it was a bottle or weapon and, fearing I was going to be struck, I immediately moved behind him ducked down and grabbed his left arm by his bicep."

It was at that point, said Hoskins, that he was taken to the ground and curled up like a foetus to protect himself from a volley of kicks and punches.

He said he had not punched Mr Kand-emir at all, had no recollection of biting his thumb or hearing a police sergeant threaten him with CS gas. Asked by prosecutor Andrew Maitland to explain how Mr Kandemir's thumb got into his mouth, Hoskins said that his injuries included a badly bloodshot eye.

"I can only suggest that Mr Kandemir was trying to prise my eye out of its socket by levering with his thumb in my mouth. I had no other injuries around my eye."

Police surgeon Jonathan Wyatt, who examined Hoskins within an hour of the incident, said in a statement that he was smelling of drink but was alert, calm and orientated. He had suffered injuries consistent with blunt force trauma.

The trial continues.

Editor