A POLICE constable was allegedly 'rugby-tackled' as officers probed reports of a domestic row at a family home.

Two PCs went to the house at around midnight on November 15, 2019.

‪Father and son Terrence Richard Taylor, 62, and 39-year-old Robert James Stewart-Taylor are on trial at Carlisle Crown Court. They each deny one alleged assault of an emergency worker: PC Emily Burns and PC David Shaw, respectively.

Giving evidence, PC Burns said she and her colleague went to Park Avenue, Windermere, with blue lights and sirens activated on what was deemed an emergency call.

Initially there was no answer. Eventually, Terrance Taylor opened the door, claiming first there had been no disturbance before admitting there was a “little argument”.

He was holding a tissue but wasn’t injured. “It was soaked in blood, so it was all red,” said PC Burns.

When asked about that, Terrence Taylor “became quite agitated, started pointing at our van, telling us to go”, said the officer. He then closed and locked the door.

PC Burns saw blood “splattered” up the door, above the letterbox, and spots on the floor.

She expressed concern over a possible injured person inside. “Given the amount of blood I thought it was a substantial injury. If it was a small cut on the finger there wouldn’t have been as much blood as there was.”

Walking around the house, PC Burns heard “aggressive” sounds of an apparent argument inside.

Taylor’s wife, she said, then opened the door. “I explained that we needed to come into the address to establish who had been injured and I placed my foot in the doorway to stop it from being shut as Mr Taylor had already closed the door and locked it prior,” said PC Burns.

The couple “continuously” pushed the door and Taylor then “kicked out” before grabbing her arm and “walking her forcefully backwards”.

As PC Shaw tried to help her put Taylor in handcuffs, his son Stewart-Taylor, she said, “came out of the house and rugby-tackled him to the floor”.

“Did you see the contact?” asked Judge Nicholas Barker.

“I did,” replied the officer, who pressed her radio emergency button. “Because I believed I was going to be seriously harmed — or my colleague was.”

‪Earlier, prosecutor Jack Troup told jurors the defendants, both of Park Avenue, denied assault, believing the officers “were not acting within their powers in entering the address”.

‪The trial continues.