Tag switch for Guiseley mum who bit neighbour's son so she could still go swimming with her kids

Jade Fielden was being lined up for an alcohol sobriety tag, which monitors a person’s sweat to detect if they been drinking, after she attacked the man at a house in Guiseley while intoxicated.

But after Leeds Crown Court was told that the sobriety tags cannot be worn in a swimming pool, Judge Christopher Batty was persuaded to give her a standard electronic tag for a two-month curfew just to ensure she stays at home each night between 9pm and 7am.

Prosecutor Gareth Henderson-Moore said 28-year-old Fielden had been drinking with her female neighbour on the night of March 5 last year when the neighbour’s son arrived at around 8.30pm.

He later said Fielden was in drink and she raised an issue with the man, claiming he owed £35 to her over a bracelet. He tried to explain to her that he would pay her back through gardening work but she became aggressive and was holding a knife, the court was told.

She threatened to “smack” the man before launching at him, punching him to he face and then his chest and torso. He was also bitten to the arm. The man’s mother intervened and the knife dropped to the floor.

Arrested at the scene, Fielden, of Ruskin Crescent, was interviewed by police the next day and denied having the knife or punching the man. She admitted biting him but in self defence claiming he grabbed her by the throat.

Fielden later admitted a charge of actual bodily harm, but a probation report suggested she still maintained it was because of “tensions” between the pair after he “barged” into the house.

But the probation officer said: “She does recognise that it was heavily impactful for her children and she should not have assaulted the man. She offers remorse but she believes her behaviour was a poor reaction to being grabbed round the throat.”

Along with the two-month curfew, Judge Batty gave her a 12-month community order.