A DRUNK Carlisle woman who spat at two police officers after telling them she had coronavirus has been jailed for 14 months.

The city's crown court heard today how the officers involved found 27-year-old Kathleen Knaggs near to the scene of a road traffic accident in Borland Avenue, Botcherby, where she was seen drinking from a bottle.

They suspected she was involved and wanted to give her a breath test.

But when one of the officers took the bottle she was drinking out of away from her, Knaggs became abusive and violent, the court heard. "The officer removed the bottle from the defendant's hand and was immediately struck to the face," said prosecutor Beth Pilling.

Knaggs followed her punch with a slap to the same officer's face. In the struggle that followed, Knaggs spat at the two police officers who were there, telling them she had coronavirus and was HIV positive.

She struggled so much that the first spit hood officers put on her came off and had to be replaced.

Knaggs, who lives in Borland Avenue, was finally restrained by several officers.

At the time of the incident, on April 24, she was under a suspended 24 month jail sentence for stabbing her former boyfriend, the court heard.

Her defence lawyer Sean Harkin told the court she was remorseful, and could hardly now believe what she had done.

"She's someone who, generally speaking, does not go about committing offences," said the lawyer.

He said Knaggs had been working well with the Probation Service, and what happened was an "aberration".

At an earlier hearing, Knaggs admitted two offences of assaulting an emergency worker - in each case a police officer; and failing to provide a breath specimen for analysis.

Passing sentence, Judge Nicholas Barker told her: "Your conduct was quite appalling.

"You were implacable; you were drunk, and you remained uncooperative, aggressive, and highly abusive throughout this incident.

"It was an extreme incident, where you had to be restrained, not only with handcuffs.

"It was necessary to restrain your legs."

The judge added: "As far as the police officers are concerned, they provide a vital service to our communities. They are there to ensure that we are all kept safe; and to apply the law; and to ensure peace and good order.

"What they are not are objects of abuse; what they are not are objects of physical violence. They may be police officers but first and foremost they are human beings and they demand and require the respect of others. You offered them not one moment of respect on that day."

As well as imposing a total jail term of 14 months - six months for the police assaults and eight for the reactivated suspended sentence - the judge banned Knaggs from driving for 18 months, with that period effective from the point of her release from prison.

After she entered her guilty pleas, Acting Detective Inspector Simon Gray said: “Unfortunately emergency workers continue to be attacked on a regular basis. Incidents of spitting or coughing and claiming to have Covid-19 cause a great deal of distress for the victims of this horrendous behaviour.

“I would like to remind the public that assaults on emergency workers will not be tolerated and anyone doing so will be detained and put before a court.”