Patient jailed for 20 weeks after ‘threatening to shoot’ GP

A man has been jailed for 20 weeks after he ‘racially abused’ and ‘threatened to shoot’ a GP at a surgery in Doncaster.

South Yorkshire Police said that Jermaine Jones, 49, used ‘disgusting racist language’ towards a GP at a Doncaster practice following an appointment on 3 January.

He returned to the surgery a few days later to request more medication but after being told he had been barred due to his previous behaviour, Jones threatened to shoot the same GP he had racially abused, the police said.

The force also said that further public order offences were committed by Jones, who ‘showed anger towards staff’ at a community hub in the city centre on 9 January. He was later charged with multiple public order offences and criminal damage.

Last Tuesday (23 January), Jones, of Mallard Close, Balby, was jailed for 20 weeks at Doncaster Magistrates’ Court after pleading guilty to two counts of using threatening or abusive behaviour to cause harassment, two counts of racially aggravated harassment and one count of criminal damage.

PC Matt Hubbard, who was the officer in the case, said: ‘Jones made vicious threats of violence and used vile racist language to target workers across Doncaster who were simply going about their day-to-day jobs.

‘No worker should have had to put up with his disgusting behaviour and we are pleased he is behind bars so he can no longer be a menace to the people of Doncaster.

‘This is a key result for Doncaster Central Neighbourhood Policing Team and I hope his sentence sends out a reminder that we will not tolerate this kind of behaviour on our city’s streets.’

Last month, a man was charged with criminal damage and abusive behaviour following an incident at a GP practice in Bristol just before Christmas.

There have been many other instances of abuse towards GP practice staff in recent months – in November, a man was arrested in Stoke-on-Trent after GP staff were threatened with a knife, and another man was arrested in Sheffield after an assault on two GP registrars with a baseball bat. 

Pulse’s investigation into the effects of abuse earlier this year showed a 16% rise in crimes involving violence at GP surgeries since 2019, after a drop in incidents during the pandemic.

And a UK-wide survey of around 2,000 doctors revealed that more than half of International Medical Graduates (IMGs) experience everyday instances of racism at work.