A drunken English teacher tried to get into a kebab van before kicking a policewoman in the bottom up to eight times.

Yet Philip Body, 47, who has worked in refugee camps around the world teaching English as a foreign language, walked from court with a community order after a judge at Swindon Crown Court heard the attack was out of character, he was remorseful and had slashed his alcohol intake.

Prosecutor Christopher Wing said Body had been staying with his father in Trowbridge in March after having to return from the Philippines, where he had been working, as the coronavirus pandemic raged.

On the night of March 11, police were called to Trowbridge town centre after reports of a man kicking a taxi after the driver refused to give him a lift then trying to get into a kebab van.

That man was Body, who earlier that day had been drinking in a pub. He’d tried to buy alcohol from a shop but was refused.

Two police officers arrived shortly after 7.30pm. Footage from female officer PC Porter’s body-worn video camera showed Body lying on the pavement outside Starbucks.

He struggled to recall his name and date of birth as the officers moved him to a nearby bench.

Body became agitated after the male officer, PC Fry, arrested him on suspicion of being drunk and disorderly.

The constable tried to put the handcuffs on Body, warning the man to comply “otherwise we’ll chuck you on the floor, we’ll have a bundle and we win”.

The officer’s advice went unheeded.

Body lunged forward as if to try and headbutt the officer. They fell to the floor and, as both police officers tried to restrain him, Body kicked out with his legs he struck PC Porter in the buttocks an estimated six to eight times. The female constable also suffered swelling to a finger.

Two members of the public intervened, with one holding Body’s legs to stop him lashing out.

Interviewed the following day, Body claimed not to be able to remember the incident. The teacher kept his head bowed as the footage was played in court.

Body, of Raynes Park, London, pleaded guilty to assaulting an emergency worker. A second charge of assaulting an emergency worker was ordered to lie on the file. He had one previous conviction in 1998 for driving with excess alcohol.

Rebecca Moss, mitigating, said her client was remorseful. His behaviour on March 11 was completely out of character and the man in the dock was unrecognisable from that in the police video footage.

Body had worked around the world teaching English as a foreign language for the British Council. “He teaches in refugee camps. He has taught in South Sudan, in Syria, in Burundi,” Ms Moss said.

He recognised he had had a problem with alcohol and since the incident had stopped drinking. He lived in London with his mother.

Judge Peter Crabtree told Body: “You were highly intoxicated; to use the colloquial term ‘legless’ would not be an understatement.”

However, he recognised there was a realistic prospect Body could be rehabilitated in the community. The judge imposed an 18 month community order with 20 rehabilitation activity days, 80 hours of unpaid work, a 10 week curfew and ordered he pay £120 compensation to the injured officer.