Drunk swore at police after kicking door

DRUNKEN Brittany Ferns has been hit with a court fine after she was verbally abusive to police.

The 20-year-old was spotted by officers shouting, swearing and kicking the door to a block of flats in Novi Lane, Leek, at around 11.15pm on October 9.

Officers asked what she was doing and advised her to leave the area, but she told them: “’I’m not f***ing scared.”

North Staffordshire Justice Centre heard Ferns had been drinking excessively as she had recently lost her grandmother.

Prosecutor Alicia Perry said: “The officer’s attention was drawn to two females on the opposite side of the road.

“The defendant was shouting and swearing ‘get out here, open the f***ing door’ while kicking the door of some flats.

“The officer crossed the road to speak to her and asked what she was doing.

“She replied, ‘don’t f***ing come at me like that, I don’t give a f***’.

“Clearly she was drunk, her speech was slurred, and he could smell liquor on her breath.

“He told her to stop shouting and she replied, ‘don’t f***ing come in my face’ and ‘if I want to kick a door, I’ll kick a door’.

“The officer told her to go away, but she said ‘I’m not f***ing scared’.

“She was arrested and taken to custody, where she repeatedly asked the same questions over and over again and she couldn’t remember the answers given.”

Now Ferns, of Broad Street, Leek, has pleaded guilty to being drunk and disorderly in a public place.

She has one previous conviction for affray in March 2019, for which she was handed a 16-week prison sentence suspended for two years.

Ferns also admitted breaching the suspended sentence.

Tony Cooke, mitigating, said Ferns had been drinking excessively as she had recently lost her grandmother who had brought her up. He asked magistrates not to activate the suspended sentence.

He said: “She accepts she was very drunk and realises she has been drinking excessively of late because she recently lost her grandmother, who brought her up and she has lost a mother figure.

“She believed she was going to a friend’s house. There was no buzzer on the door and she was knocking and shouting for them to come and open the door.

“Drunk and disorderly is not an imprisonable offence. She had too much to drink and realises why she’s doing that.

“I ask you to not activate the suspended sentence.

“She can pay a fine, she is in receipt of Universal Credit and not working.

“She is struggling with the drinking at the moment and would accept some help.”

Magistrates fined Ferns £80 and ordered her to pay £135 costs and a £34 surcharge.