A RECOVERING heroin addict with 46 previous convictions was given a second chance yesterday when he appeared in court for biting a police officer.

Grant Trodden was spared jail and instead given a 160-hour Community Punishment Order after he pleaded guilty to assaulting the officer and using threatening and abusive behaviour.

His solicitor, Laura Sanders-Jerrom, asked the court not to imprison Trodden, saying he had started to turn his life around after years of crime.

Darlington Magistrates' Court heard how the 33-year-old, of Cricket Field Row, Darlington, bit the police officer on the arm as he tried to restrain him at Darlington Memorial Hospital on April 11.

Yesterday, his solicitor said Trodden was ashamed and disgusted by his actions, and offered no excuse for his behaviour.

She said the father-of-two had led a troubled life after his parents separated when he was a baby, leaving him in the care of social services.

By the age of 15 he was a drug user, becoming a heroin addict and regular visitor to the courts.

However, she said that of 46 previous convictions and 91 offences, only two were committed against people.

"He's not a violent lad, in the main," said Mrs Sanders-Jerrom.

Talking about his troubled childhood, she said: "We could probably have seen it coming at some stage or another - that he would get involved in drugs. But, to his credit, he has got out of that.

"If I had had the upbringing he has had and the misfortunes he has had, I don't think I could have pulled myself out of it."

Chairwoman of the bench Patricia Wilson sentenced Trodden to the 160-hour community punishment order and ordered him to pay £50 to the officer and £70 costs.