Boozy reveller grabbed cop's leg and made homophobic remarks in Mansfield

Paige Hart was arrested for a breach of the peace on Sandy Lane, on February 18, and as she was driven away, kept putting her hand on the constable’s hand and leg.

“Are you gay? Is that why you are being offensive?” she asked him.

“She was very obviously drunk, irrational and visibly upset,” said prosecutor Kate Hartley.

“Have you never done this in your life because you’re gay?” Hart asked him.

She banged her head on the side of the car, and at the police station said: “It’s all right, you’re gay. I won’t touch you.”

Ms Hartley said these were clear homophobic comments which aggravated the offence, but the officer was uninjured.

Michael Little, mitigating, said Hart was “very, very drunk” after a boozing with pals in Mansfield.

She was “thoroughly ashamed about her behaviour”, he said, and was not homophobic.

Hart, 23, formerly of Steinbeck Road, Carlton, admitted assaulting a constable, when she appeared at Mansfield Magistrates Court, on Wednesday.

District judge Jonathan Taaffe said: “This is a disgraceful piece of behaviour on your part, brought about simply by the amount you had to drink.

“If you can’t take your drink, you shouldn’t drink. I have got police officers trying to do their public duty who are being verbally assaulted with homophobic abuse, which aggravates the matter.”

She was handed a 12 month community order, with 80 hours of unpaid work, and was ordered to pay £85 costs, a government surcharge of £85, and £50 compensation.