Bodyworn camera footage played in court showed the moment a police officer was brutally headbutted as he tried to handcuff a suspect.

Morgan Askew, 25, used his head as a weapon, causing a deep cut to the police sergeant’s forehead, the Court of General Gaol Delivery heard.

He continued to struggle with officers even after he was taken to the ground, spitting in the direction of the sergeant and threatening: ‘I’m going to bite your nose off, I’m going to kill you.’

Sentencing Askew, 25, to a total of 28 weeks in jail, Deemster Graeme Cook said the ‘savage’ offence had ‘come out of the blue’ and the officer had been ‘met by absolute brutality’.

‘In my judgment, a headbutt is tantamount to a weapon,’ he said.

In a victim impact statement read out in court, the police sergeant said he was going to be left with a noticeable scar on his face.

He said he had been doing the job for 14 years but now questioned whether he should have done more to protect himself.

‘I’ve never felt less confident in doing my role,’ he said. ‘I do expect to deal with some violence but I do not expect to be physically assaulted in such an opportunistic manner.’

Askew has pleaded guilty to a charge of inflicting grievous bodily harm.

Prosecutor Victoria Kinrade told the court that police were called to the defendant’s home in Gorsecroft, Douglas, on May 14 this year following reports of a domestic dispute.

Officers spoke to the defendant outside. He appeared drunk, his eyes were glazed over and he was unsteady on his feet.

The door to the property was locked. Askew’s mother said she would let the officers in but not the defendant as he had hit her younger son.

She explained that he had become violent when alcohol had been hidden from him and he had thrown a bottle at her.

Askew had appeared calm and compliant as the police sergeant approached him and told him he was under arrest.

But as he tried to put the handcuff on his right wrist, the defendant pulled away and then headbutted him to the forehead. The incident was captured in bodyworn camera footage played in court.

Despite blood dripping from the wound, the officer continued to be involved in making the arrest.

After being taken to police headquarters, Askew saw his victim and told him: ‘You’re the cop I headbutted. I should not have done it - I’m sorry.’

Interviewed by police, he said he’d had a ‘tiff’ with his mother and brother after alcohol had been removed from his bedroom.

He described himself as an alcoholic and said his actions had been stupid.

The police sergeant required stitches to a 4cm long laceration to his forehead but afterwards had continued with his shift.

Deemster Cook sentenced Askew to 26 months for the assault, with a further two months to run consecutively for breach of a suspended sentence from last year for offences including hitting a police officer in the jaw.