A POLICEMAN was dragged along for ten yards by a shoplifter's car when he tried to question him about stealing half a dozen bottles of gin from a Forest of Dean supermarket, a judge heard.

PC Stephen Evans feared his feet would be caught under the wheel of the car and had to jump for safety, suffering grazes to his arm, Gloucester crown court was told.

In the dock was Gareth Evans, 37, of Wyesham Rd, Wyesham, Monmouth, who admitted charges of theft from Somerfield in Coleford and driving dangerously on 10th August this year.

Evans also admitted two earlier shoplifting offences in Monmouth and a charge of assaulting a Newport police officer by spitting at him after his arrest.

And he admitted that he had committed the offences in breach of a 12 week suspended sentence imposed earlier this year.

Recorder Geoffrey Mercer QC jailed Evans for a total of 12 months and banned him from driving for a year.