Colchester incident saw woman hurl broken bottle at police

Grace Jackson, of no fixed abode, had already been serving a suspended sentence when she committed the offence last December, having appeared in courts nine months earlier for causing criminal damage.

The court heard how Jackson, 34, caused £390 of damage to a door at Ipswich Crown Court last March, for which she received a suspended sentence three months later.

In December, whilst still serving that sentence, Jackson was embroiled in an incident in Margaret Road, Colchester which involved the police being called because she was drunk.

Scene - the incident took place in December last year, when Grace Jackson was already serving a suspended sentence (Image: Google Street View)

The court heard how Jackson’s aggressiveness prompted an officer to brandish a taser, and as he did so, Jackson smashed a bottle on the kerb and threatened to self-harm.

As the police moved towards her to intervene, Jackson then threw the broken bottle at one of the officers before he tackled her to the ground and arrested her.

On Friday, Jackson appeared before the court for sentencing.

Judge Richard Kelly, who oversaw the case, said: “You were carrying two bottles of alcohol from which you were drinking at various points during this stand-off in the street.

“There came a point when you smashed one of the bottles on the ground – you threatened to harm yourself with that broken bottle, so the police approached you very quickly to try and diffuse the situation, one of the officers with his taser drawn.

“When he approached, you threw the bottle in his general direction.

Sentence - Judge Richard Kelly decided against giving Grace Jackson a prison term (Image: Newsquest)

“You were taken to the ground and the second bottle was smashed as well; you remained fairly hostile throughout the whole thing because you were so intoxicated.”

However, Judge Kelly referenced a doctor’s report which stated Jackson’s mental health could majorly deteriorate were she to serve a jail term.

He added: “Everything I have read says you are willing to engage in what’s going to be a long journey for to complete sobriety.”

Jackson must now complete an alcohol abstinence monitoring requirement for 120 days, as well as a two-year community order and a further 15 days of rehab activities from her previous sentence.