A BEGGAR who kicked a police officer in the head after being asked to stop begging has been banned from sitting on the ground within 10 metres of any cashpoint within the Oxford ring road for two years.

Geoffrey Bennett, 51, has also been banned from sitting on the ground within five metres of any shop, pub or club or Oxford college for the same time period.

The Criminal Behaviour Order (CBO), made at Oxford Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, also bans him from swearing or using abusive, insulting or sexually explicit language anywhere in the city for the two years. Magistrates made the order after Bennett pleaded guilty at the hearing to assaulting a police constable and begging.

The charges relate to an altercation Bennett had with police who found him begging in George Street, Oxford, on May 9.

Officers directed him to leave the area but he refused.

When they arrested him, Bennett kicked the arresting officer in the head.

For his convictions, the magistrates gave him a 12-week prison sentence suspended for 12 months.

They also granted the Thames Valley Police application for a CBO.

Antisocial behaviour officer Mike Ellis said: “I am pleased with the outcome.

“This man’s aggressive reaction to arrest in assaulting a police officer is not acceptable and shows the dangers faced by officers every day.”

Bennett is now the fifth person in Oxford to be the subject of one of the orders, which were introduced in October last year.