Appeal to free police officer attacker

The family of a man jailed for punching a female police officer in an intimate area are set to launch an appeal to free him from prison.
An appeal has been lodged on behalf of Stephen CorfieldAn appeal has been lodged on behalf of Stephen Corfield
An appeal has been lodged on behalf of Stephen Corfield

Stephen Corfield, 46, was given a two-year term after he launched an unexpected attack on the officer while he was being treated in an ambulance.

But his family insists the former Rathbones manager is not even aware of what has done, after suffering a series of epileptic seizures.

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His sister, Sharon Pierce, 48, confirmed that his daughters, Zoe and Amanda Seddon, were in discussions with new solicitors over launching an appeal against his Bolton Crown Court sentence.

Sharon, of Selkirk Grove, said: "He has mental health issues and none of this was mentioned in court.

"When this happened he had only just got out of hospital, after he had more eplieptic fits, which made him even worse."

More than 300 signatures have also so far been pledged for an online petition, set up by his niece Tamara Corfield, daughter of his brother Craig, who lives in the Newport area.

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The petition calls for him to be released so he can be treated in the community. Currently he is on the hospital wing at HMP Forest Bank, where he is serving his sentence, after admitting to a sexual assault charge.

Judge Timothy Clayson also ordered him to sign the sex offenders register for 10 years.

Added Sharon: "When we went to visit him in jail he asked what he was doing there.

"When we told him why he said he would never do anything like that. He is not a violent man."

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The seizures have caused short-term memory loss, according to his sister, and have resulted in him being admitted to the intensive care unit at Wigan Infirmary on at least three occasions.

"His girlfriend died about a year and half ago and he keeps asking why she has not been visiting him in prison," added Sharon.

"Before this he worked as a manager at Rathbones but then he had his first major fit."

Police had originally arrived on the scene to deal with a domestic disturbance at the home of his daughters.

The female officer spoke of her shock and surprise in the moments after Corfield lashed out.