A thug strangled a police officer who was trying to arrest him before pushing another towards a window leaving them feeling scared for their safety.

Jami Singh, 37, attacked the officers as they tried to arrest him following allegations of stalking and harassment. 

A court heard how when officers first arrived at his home address, they were met with members of Singh's family who refused to let them in. 

But when he finally did come outside to meet officers he was "argumentative" stating they were not going to cuff him and that he would walk to their car. 

He became aggressive when officers tried to restrain him, goading the male officer, PC Calum Boitz, saying "come on then, do something bad man". 

But when PC Boitz stepped in to assist his colleagues, Singh grabbed him around the throat with the officer later stating he felt his airway being restricted. 

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Singh let go after a matter of seconds but then grabbed his throat again, squeezing his other hand on the back of the officer's neck. 

Prosecuting, Keely Harvey said the officer thought he may lose consciousness and "felt entirely defenceless". 

Members of his family were also involved and surrounding the officers at this time, exposing them to a "barrage of abuse and swearing". 

Singh of Burke Drive, Southampton, then pushed the female officer, who was attempting to assist her colleague, into the window of the property. 

He was eventually arrested but continued being abusive in the van, telling them "that stab vest isn't going to protect you". 

The female officer said in a statement that they "shouldn't have to accept being abused.

"I was scared for PC Boitz's life. I was scared he was going to use the same force against my head and neck.

"The entire incident could have been avoided". 

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Singh accepted his behaviour was wrong when interviewed and apologised. 

He has since been recalled to prison due to being on licence at the time for a previous offence of supplying drugs.

Singh, who has six convictions for eight offences, pleaded guilty to intentional strangulation, assault by beating of an emergency worker and a public order offence relating to the verbal abuse.

Appearing on Monday at Southampton Crown Court he was jailed for eight months. 

Mitigating, Simon Walters said his client had apologised for his actions and that the allegations he were being arrested for related to an ex-partner. 

He said: "He knew he had not done anything wrong. it is not the first time those allegations have been made.

"He knows that this is a serious enough incident. Short-lived as it was."

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He added that Singh had been making efforts to find employment at the time having been released from custody and reacted the way he did because he thought someone had elbowed his mother in the chest.

He did not face any further action on the allegations.

But judge Christopher Parker said Singh reacted "extremely badly" and began making threats of "severe violence".

"This was an assault on a police officer who was performing his public duty.

"You lost your temper because you believed you were being arrested for improper reasons."

Police Constable Georgia Loach, who led the investigation, said: “I am pleased that we have secured justice for the officers assaulted by Jami Lee Singh and that he will now face the consequences of his actions.

"As police officers and staff, we put ourselves in harm’s way every day to protect the public, however we do not come to work to be assaulted and abused and will continue investigating all incidents of this nature so that those who commit these assaults will be held to account."

Southampton Chief Inspector Marcus Kennedy added: "We take a zero-tolerance approach to assaults on our officers, and do not accept that it is simply part of the job. I

"In this case, a police constable and a special constable who were just trying to do their jobs were intimidated, threatened, abused and assaulted and this is simply not acceptable, particularly when our special constables give up their time voluntarily to make a difference.

"No emergency workers should turn up to work and expect to come to harm.

"As a force we will continue to work with the CPS to ensure that those responsible for such assaults are brought to justice.”

Hampshire Police Federation chair, Zoe Wakefield added that is is rare for cases such as these to result in a custodial sentence "so this sentence is very welcomed".