Mum with teaching ambitions punched officers during violent 'scrap' at Leeds house party
A mum became embroiled in a scrap involving police officers at a house party in Leeds which left left one with a broken nose.
PAVA spray was used after one man picked up a knife during the melee while another headbutted the officers as they tried to put him in handcuffs, Leeds Crown Court heard.
But Paige Tuohey-Brooke also became involved, punching one officer to the face, then throwing punches at the other. Prosecutor Jemima Stephenson said officers attended the address on The Rein, Seacroft, at around 10pm on April 8 last year, looking for a wanted male.
On approach they could see there was a "social gathering", so entered the semi-detached home. The officers grabbed the man they had come for by his wrists but he became irate.
Others then got involved and tried to get between the wanted man and the officers, including 30-year-old Tuohey-Brooke. She punched the first officer to the face, then threw the punches at the other. The male headbutted one officer several times, and another male threw kitchen items at them before picking up a knife. The incapacitating spray was then used before the situation was brought under control.
Tuohey-Brooke, of Swarcliffe Bank, Swarcliffe, later admitted two assaults on emergency workers. An initial charge of affray was not pursued. She has no previous convictions.
A probation officer said she was a single mother-of-one who worked part-time and harboured ambitions of becoming a teacher. No mitigation was offered by her barrister, Rukhshanda Hussain, after Deputy Circuit Judge Timothy Clayson conceded it was "not her scrap" and would not give her a jail sentence.
Instead, he gave her a 12-month community order with 75 hours of unpaid work. He told her: "You got yourself involved in what was a violent episode at this home. Officers were trying to deal with the arrest of a male they were legitimately seeking.
"It was a very violent incident and officers were headbutted and assaulted in a number of different ways. You got involved by punching one to the side of the face, and the punched another several times."