A man who kicked and spat at two female police officers who arrested him for assaulting another woman has been jailed for four months.

Nuno Saraiva grabbed at the woman’s body inside a Felixstowe address in the early hours of December 8 last year.

Ipswich Crown Court heard that the 40-year-old had been drinking whisky with another occupant of the house for several hours before the attack happened at about 1am.

Prosecutor Simon Waters said: “Matters took a turn for the worse as his behaviour deteriorated and he grabbed at the woman’s body.”

The assault lasted 30 seconds before being stopped by another resident responding to her cries.

When police arrived, Saraiva was too drunk to identify his own shoes and was led out in his socks.

On the way to custody, he kicked the elbow of the officer driving the vehicle and twice spat at the officer accompanying him in the back seat, while attempting to bite her hand multiple times.

When backup arrived, he tensed up and resisted being pulled from the car and into a waiting van.

The Portuguese national had no previous convictions in this country but had admitted failing to take a breathalyser test in Felixstowe in August 2016 – although left the UK before being convicted and was jailed for 21 days when charged with the more recent assault offences.

Shade Abiodun, mitigating, said Saraiva recalled nothing about the incident, adding: “His level of intoxication is no excuse, but it demonstrates his state of mind.

“He wouldn’t have acted in that way had he been sober.”

Judge Emma Peters said Saraiva had behaved repulsively and that it was only right to impose consecutive eight-week sentences for assaulting the woman and the officer he attempted to bite, plus four weeks to run concurrently for kicking the other officer’s elbow.

He was also handed a restraining order prohibiting contact with his victim for a year.

Saraiva had initially been charged with sexual assault for grabbing the woman’s breast and groin area during the incident.

He had denied the allegation but admitted an alternative assault charge, which the Crown Prosecution Service deemed acceptable, along with the assaults on the officers, while another denied allegation of assault against a second resident was left to ‘lie on file’ following Saraiva guilty pleas to other charges.