New Year party girl found guilty of racial assault on police

Bridget Hoey, 31, of Chaucer Road, Bedford, was arrested for being drunk and disorderly outside a pub in Mill Street, on December 31.

She racially abused the officers before being taken to Kempston custody suite where she kicked and bit an officer. Once in a cell, she punched an officer through the door hatch, and kicked a detention officer.

Hoey was found guilty of three counts of assaulting an officer, one assault on an accredited person and one racially aggravated public disorder offence, at Luton Magistrates Court, on February 4.

She received an eight-week prison sentence, suspended for 18 months, a rehabilitation order of 18 months, and was ordered to pay £415 in costs.

Chief Inspector Gayner Coulson said: “Attacks on police officers and staff, whether verbal or physical, are completely unacceptable, and what was even more abhorrent about Hoey’s attack was the racial abuse she shouted at the officers.

“Day in, day out our officers and staff work hard to protect the people of Bedfordshire; it is absolutely inexcusable for them to have to be subject to any type of abuse and we are committed to ensuring that those responsible for these types of attacks are held accountable for their actions.”