A 34-year-old woman who launched a ‘coronavirus attack’ on five police officers arresting her for the breach of an anti-social behaviours order has been jailed.
Stacey Blackham was sent to prison for two years when she appeared at Leicester Crown Court last week, where the judge heard that she’d bitten one of the officers so hard it had drawn blood.
In other assaults on officers, she’d coughed and claimed to be infected with coronavirus and said she hoped they would die from it.
Blackham was found at an address in Leicester by officers who knew she was wanted. Once she’d been arrested and taken to a police vehicle, she began her violent attack on the team arresting her – even shouting racist abuse.
She pleaded guilty to all of the charges against her: Five counts of assault on an emergency worker, racially aggravated threatening behaviour, racially aggravated assault and theft.
Andrew Baxter, regional lead for hate crime, at the Crown Prosecution Service said: “Any attack on emergency workers is serious, but in this case, these officers were working hard to keep their community safe and these offences occurred at a time of great pressure on police officers.
“To deliberately cough at officers suggesting the reason is to spread the coronavirus is a deplorable way to behave, and inevitably will end up in serious charges being laid and significant sentences being handed down.
“In this case racist language was also used which added to the seriousness of the offending. The court’s significant sentence reflects the abhorrent nature of this behaviour.”
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