20 January 2025
'When did it become OK to assault a police officer?'
A woman with multiple convictions for violence against police officers has again escaped a custodial sentence for yet another attack.
Sarah Morgan punched two officers in the face as they tried to arrest her for causing a disturbance at a Leicester address last month. She also tried to bite one of the officers after her hands were restrained.
Morgan was already subject to a community order for a separate attack on a police officer, whom she had punched, kicked and also tried to bite last July.
Morgan, of Cropthorne Avenue, Rowlatts Hill, pleaded guilty to the two counts of assault by beating against an emergency worker in December and was given a suspended sentence.
The lenient punishment has angered Andy Spence, Chair of Leicestershire Police Federation, who asked: "How many officers need to be assaulted before the court gives a prison sentence? When did it become OK to assault a police officer?"
The suspended sentence came alongside official figures which have revealed a police officer is assaulted every 10 minutes in the UK.
There were a staggering 55,954 assaults on UK police officers over the past year – amounting to more than 150 a day.
Andy said: "In Leicestershire, more than 900 officers were assaulted last year. This figure is far too high. Police officers run towards danger, putting themselves at risk to protect the public. In return they are punched, kicked, spat at, stabbed or have vehicles driven at them.
"When a police officer is assaulted, it affects them, their families, their colleagues and the public. If an officer is injured and can’t come back to work, it is the public who suffer.
"In 2020 the Police Federation pushed the Government to increase the sentence for those who assault emergency workers to two years’ imprisonment. Yet the court decided to give Morgan another suspended sentence and the option of rehabilitation. We need the judicial system to step up, recognise the important role of the police and properly punish those who injure our officers."
Prosecutor Sally Bedford told Leicestershire Magistrates Court on 15 January: "[Morgan] has a number of convictions for violence including assaulting the police. She has been given a number of [community orders] and there have been a number of breaches. She received a suspended sentence in 2023 for a number of offences involving assaults on police and in July 2024 was given a community order for a similar matter."
Magistrates revoked Morgan's current community order and put a suspended sentence order in its place. Her new sentence for the July and December offences was 20 weeks suspended for 18 months and she was also ordered to pay £50 each to the two police officers from her benefits.
To see the story in full, go to: https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news/leicester-news/drunk-violent-woman-punched-two-9866147
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