Violent spree ended with licking police officer's face in Dunedin

Dylan James Hancock was jailed for three and a-half years.

A drunken violence spree which ended with a Dunedin man licking a police officer's face has resulted in him being jailed for three and a-half years.

Dylan James Hancock, 31, was sentenced at the Dunedin District Court yesterday on a raft of charges after spending more than a year in custody.

Hancock settled in on August 26 last year with a bunch of mates to watch the All Blacks.

Despite their narrow win over Australia, Hancock was not in celebratory mood.

At the end of the game, he was told their were no drinks left.

''Without warning'', Hancock punched the man sitting beside him on the couch.

The victim moved into the kitchen followed by the irate defendant and their tussle led to a window being broken.

Another man entered in a bid to calm tensions but his intervention resulted in him too being punched in the face by the defendant.

Three children who were in the house rushed to their bedrooms to escape the drama.

After inflicting three more blows, Hancock was approached by a woman he also assaulted.

''[She then] went upstairs to check on her children who were in their beds screaming with their hands over their ears,'' a summary of facts said.

Finally Hancock left, leaving a trail of blood spatter through the hallway and kitchen.

Before going home though, the defendant threw a pot plant through a glass door pane.

A police dog team was unable to track him but two days later officers arrested Hancock at his Dunedin home.

While handcuffed in the back of a car, the defendant undid his seatbelt and moved towards the constable in the back beside him.

Hancock attempted to bite the man's face before sticking out his tongue and licking him instead.

In another incident on September 23 last year, Hancock and four others set upon a Christchurch murder accused who was also on remand with them at the Otago Corrections Facility.

While the judge accepted Hancock was not the ringleader, he noted the man inflicted several punches and kicks against the victim who was later found in his cell convulsing.

Defence counsel Anne Stevens said her client's partner had given birth while he was in custody and the baby had become his motivation for change.

Judge Phillips was impressed with the efforts Hancock had made to address his anger issues while behind bars.

''I'm hoping this means an end to judges having to deal with you and send you to prison and the end to alcohol and violent offending; that you have come to a realisation ... that violence serves nothing,'' he said.

The court heard Hancock planned to marry his partner on release.

Hancock's partner had recently completed a three-month home detention sentence for having lied about his whereabouts on the night of the All Black test.