Banned rugby captain jailed for assaulting police officer in Southsea

The former captain of Rygbi Gogledd Cymru (North Wales Rugby) has been sentenced to 21 months for inflicting GBH on a North Wales Police officer.

Meredydd Francis, 25, was at his home address in August 2019 when the officer attended in order to arrest him in connection with another investigation.

Francis opened the door to the officer and attacked him, resulting in the officer using his CS spray and taser in an attempt to stop the violence, but the officer was thrown to the ground and seriously injured.

Francis is currently banned from sport until March 2022 due to testing positive for performance enhancing substances.

Karen Dixon of the CPS said: “Francis carried out a prolonged and violent assault on a police officer conducting his lawful duties.

“We take any incident of violence against an emergency worker extremely seriously.”