Leeds woman coughed at six police officers and threatened to infect them

A drunk who coughed at six police officers and threatened to infect them with coronavirus has been jailed for 12 months by a judge who called her conduct “despicable”.
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Victoria Geldard, 22, coughed and “hawked” at the officers when she was arrested in Stockton, Teesside, in the early hours of April 13 after she caused a nuisance in the street.

Victim statements from officers affected told of the anxious weeks they suffered, worrying if she had infected them with Covid-19, and terrified they could pass it on to their young families.

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Judge Paul Watson QC, sentencing Geldard at Teesside Crown Court, said her behaviour was “utterly inexcusable” and that emergency workers who put themselves at risk to keep the public safe deserve the protection of the courts.

The Leeds woman coughed at police and threatened to infect themThe Leeds woman coughed at police and threatened to infect them
The Leeds woman coughed at police and threatened to infect them

He told the defendant, from Poplar Mount, Bramley, Leeds: “Tragically, we know one worker has died as a result of being spat at by an infected individual.

“Your conduct was nothing short of despicable, leading as it did to a lengthy period of anxiety for each of those officers left worrying if they had been infected.”

Geldard, appearing via video-link, admitted nine counts of assaulting an emergency worker.

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Richard Bennett, prosecuting, said Cleveland Police officers were called to Ingelton Road in Stockton at 2.25am following reports of a woman causing a nuisance.

She claimed to have been assaulted and officers wanted to help her back to Leeds, but when she was unrestrained in the back of the police car she began to lash out.

She bit one officer and kicked another as they handcuffed her.

And the assaults – this time by coughing – continued in the custody suite, saying: “I’ll f****** cough all over you, I’ll give you all coronavirus.”

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One officer’s victim statement said it had “affected me massively due to me constantly thinking about my young daughter at home and that this could now be transferred onto her, putting her life at risk”.

Another, with a six-week-old baby, said: “People are dying from this and it is not a nice feeling knowing that I am now putting my family at risk due to her actions.”

The court heard there was no indication that any of the officers were infected, or that the defendant had the virus.

Nigel Soppitt, defending, said Geldard was in an abusive relationship at the time and was visiting the area with her partner when they both got drunk and she was thrown out of the house.

He added: “She accepts her behaviour was wholly inexcusable.”