A former Ashford rugby player is back in the 'sin bin' after failing to carry out his punishment for attacking a ‘Good Samaritan’ police officer.

Drunken Tommy Murray was ordered to do unpaid community work and pay £2,500 compensation for smashing his fist into the face of PC David Duffy.

The officer had been trying to help the former professional player look for his partner’s son during a beer festival at the club in Kinneys Lane, which later banned him.

But a judge at Canterbury Crown Court heard how on a number of occasions he failed to do the work after complaining about injuring himself playing rugby for another club.

Linda Jaycock, for the Probation Service, told how the surveyor from Pemberton Road, Ashford, had done just 60 of the 300 hours since January.

She said that between January 26 and May 29, Murray had turned up for community work on only one occasion – in February.

A week later, he arrived complaining of an injury to his neck, which was limiting his movement and was sent home, she added.

On February 22 he complained about suffering from a sickness bug and on March 1 he arrived saying he was suffering from a rugby injury and again was sent home.

Ms Jaycock said: “On March 8 and 22 he arrived also complaining from a neck injury. He was expected to attend on April 12 but didn’t arrive.”

Two other work days he was allowed to stay away claiming he was on “paternity leave,” the court heard.

Probation staff ordered him to provide evidence of the injuries and he submitted a report from the physiotherapist at Tonbridge’s Judinians Ruby Club.

Ms Jaycock said that a later report from the physio-
therapist said that Murray had continued to play rugby despite the injury.

She went on to say that the unpaid work would not have aggravated his symptoms. This medical evidence is not acceptable.

She added: “Mr Murray also arrived for supervision saying he was playing rugby and on one occasion showed up with a black eye saying it came from playing rugby.”

Murray was ordered to appear before Judge Heather Norton to review his progress in June and was ordered to do 35 hours of unpaid work, attend six supervision sessions and show evidence he was paying the compensation to the police officer.

Ms Jaycock said that since then, Murray had now completed 60 and a half hours of the 300 hours he had been ordered to do and had paid £600 in compensation.

Murray, who admitted the breaches of the court order, faced the possibility of the judge imposing the 21 month suspended jail sentence.

The former professional rugby player, who said he had now set up his own company called Future Solutions, was also ordered to pay £50 for the costs of the hearing

In August 2013, he attacked PC Duffy who was helping him look for his partner’s son during a beer festival at Ashford Rugby Club.

Judge Norton told him she had been “seriously unimpressed” by his non-compliance of the order.

She said he had a responsibility to carry out the order and the fact he couldn’t because he was playing rugby was an “aggravating feature” of the case.

“That is precisely what got you into trouble in the first place! My understanding was that you had been banned from playing rugby by your club.

“So to go on playing rugby for someone else, accumulating not very serious injuries and then using that as an excuse for not carrying out the court order is quite frankly unacceptable.”

The judge has now ordered him to do another 56 hours in the next two months and continue to pay the £200 a month compensation.

“If you slip again you will be breached again. If you are breached, quite frankly you will be going inside.”

She also extended the length of the suspended sentence from 18 to 24 months.