Spit shame of house guest who outstayed her welcome

A DRUNKEN woman arrested after refusing to leave a friend’s house spat at police and threatened to rip their faces off.

Sarah Dixon, a single mum of a five-year-old girl, had gone to the home of a friend in Barwell, where she had drunk a bottle of wine and some gin before becoming abusive.

Her friend phoned the police because Dixon, 43, refused to leave.

As the police forced Dixon out into the street she swore at them, threatened them, tried to bite one of them and spat at them.

As well as putting a spit hood over her head, the two officers were forced to push the struggling woman on to the ground and call for backup.

Not long after, a police van arrived and as she was pushed into the back she managed to spit through the spit hood on to the face of one of the officers.

She was charged with threatening behaviour and two counts of assaulting an emergency worker.

At Leicester Magistrates’ Court, she pleaded guilty to all three offences, committed on the evening of Saturday, March 21, before lockdown.

Prosecutor Hitesh Keshvala told the court that Pc Nathan Bastock and Pc George Crossley were sent to the home in Barwell at 7.35pm.

Mr Keshvala said: “Pc Crossley said he had spoken to the occupant who said they had some friends at the address, including this defendant, who she did not want in the house.

“Pc Crossley said, ‘She repeatedly said she would rip our faces off. She was warned she would be arrested.’”

To begin with, Dixon was arrested for breaching the peace and placed in handcuffs. However, she refused to get into the back of the police car the two officers had arrived in.

The court heard that, after Dixon said she was going to spit at them, the officers placed a spit hood over her head. She thrust her head towards Pc Crossley’s arm in an attempt to bite him, prompting the officers to “take her to the floor”.

After the van arrived, she began spitting at the officers as she walked to the back of the vehicle of the van. Pc Bastock fell victim.

Dixon continued to shout abuse at the officers all the way to Beaumont Leys police station.

Chris Black, representing Dixon, said his client, of Hastings Drive, Barwell, had gone to visit a friend who lived about five minutes’ walk away and had been drinking so much she could not remember any of the offending.

He said: “She is appalled by her behaviour. She wishes to extend her apologies to all those involved.

“She’s absolutely petrified by what could happen to her today. She’s had four months of worry.”

He said Dixon worked four hours a day at a food retail business in Hinckley and had no drink or drug problems.

A couple of days before the incident, he said, Dixon had received some bad news: “A very close family member called her to say he had been diagnosed with lung cancer.

“That’s why when there’s drink available she has not one too many but many too many.”

The chairman of the bench of magistrates, Elizabeth Mitchell, said: “It was out in public, you were out of control, you assaulted two police officers and used threatening words and behaviour. It’s a very serious matter.”

Dixon was given a six-month jail sentence, suspended for 12 months.

She was also ordered to do 100 hours of unpaid work and pay £150 in compensation to the police officers – £50 to one and £100 to the other. She will also have to pay a £122 victim surcharge and £85 court costs.