A SHOPLIFTER who headbutted a policeman - fracturing his cheekbone as he tried to arrest him - has been jailed for 20 months.

Security staff at B&M Bargains tackled Gareth Davis after he walked out of a shop with a canvas painting, half a bottle of vodka and bed linen.

Davis, of no fixed address, sat with his head in his hands in the dock at Bolton Crown Court as Wayne Jackson, prosecuting, told how store worker Bradley Kerr was punched in the jaw.

PC Patrick Williams was then headbutted as he tried to handcuff 35-year-old Davis.

A stun gun had to be used to subdue the shoplifter, who then banged his own head repeatedly on the police van.

At the police station Davis spat at a police officer when he opened his cell door window.

The court heard PC Williams needed surgery to remove a blood clot from his face.

David Toal, defending said Davis suffered from depression and issues with alcohol, but has recently learnt he has a four-year-old son and wants to become a responsible father.

“He had told me he is absolutely disgusted with his own behaviour,” Mr Toal told the court.

Davis pleaded guilty to assault causing actual bodily harm, theft, assault, assaulting a police officer and criminal damage.