Retford sisters jailed for spitting at police after breaking lockown rules

Danielle Pryor and Sarah Pryor appeared at Nottingham Magistrates' Court on Wednesday (April 29) and both pleaded guilty to two assaults on an emergency worker and one count of breaching Covid-19 regulations. Danielle was sentenced to a total of 26 weeks whilst Sarah received 14 weeks imprisonment.

The court heard Police Constables Oivind Merrygold and David Hauton were carrying out regular patrols in Retford on Monday (April 27) when they received a call about a disturbance in the Churchgate area at around 11.25pm.

They recognised 34-year-old Danielle Pryor and 33-year-old Sarah Pryor, both of Lords Court in Retford, having spoken with them earlier in the evening about anti-social behaviour, warned them about the coronavirus restrictions and told them to go straight home.

The officers had once again tried to speak with the sisters but they quickly became abusive and threatening, encouraging each other to spit and cough at the officers.

Sarah Pryor was detained after she squared up to PC Hauton but Danielle Pryor managed to strike PC Merrygold in the shin with a crutch (support stick) that she had grabbed from another member of the public.

PC Merrygold was forced to pin her to the ground in order to arrest her but as he did so she scratched his face with her nails.

At this point, more officers arrived as backup. Police Sergeant Alice Bartle and Police Constable Mark Walker went to help Danielle Pryor in to the police car but she became aggressive, refusing to get in.

She then spat at PS Bartle resulting in saliva landing on her glove. She continued to spit two to three times more before PC Walker pulled her head back to prevent her from spitting again and guided her into the car.

Meanwhile, Police Constables Michelle Longhurst and Alan Johnson had gone to Sarah Pryor who was already sitting in the police car.

She was quite calm at first but became agitated wanting to know where her sister was.

Despite attempts to reassure her, she became abusive and soon started kicking at PC Longhurst resulting in a further arrest.

Both women were verbally abusive and threatening on the journey to custody. At one point PC Longhurst stopped the car to try and get Sarah Pryor to sit up properly in her seat but she suddenly lashed out and kicked PC Johnson to the arm shouting and swearing at him.

Chief Superintendent Rob Griffin said: “Assaults of this kind are completely unacceptable. To treat our officers with complete contempt and disrespect when they are just trying to do their job, putting themselves at risk to protect people from Coronavirus is a despicable act. Then to proceed with violence and spitting in a bid to purposefully harm and put the officers at risk is beyond belief."

Key workers from across Nottinghamshire have launched a video plea to the public following a spate of over 60 incidents where frontline workers have been coughed on or spat at during the Coronavirus outbreak.

Watch the video here: https://vimeo.com/413582945/07eb780787