Drink-driving mother bit a policewoman

A MOTHER of two who bit a policewoman after being arrested for drink driving has walked free from court.

Nicola Able, 38, of Wrotham, became so aggressive at a police station she had to be carried to a cell.

In the struggle she bit PC Sally Jewell and left a bruise on her arm.

Able, from Battlefields Road, was more than three times the drink-drive limit when arrested outside a house in Lewisham on November 24.

Police had followed her there after a passer-by saw her crash into a post nearby, get out and check the damage, then drive off, Greenwich Magistrates' Court heard.

A computer check showed she had no driving licence or insurance.

At a police interview, Able claimed she had bitten PC Jewell in self-defence, she did not remember drinking and been driven to the house by someone else who had quickly left the scene.

She later pleaded guilty to assaulting a police officer, drink-driving, driving without a licence or insurance and failing to stop at the scene of an accident.

Able was given a 12-week jail term suspended for 12 months, disqualified from driving for three years and ordered to pay £85 court costs and £75 in compensation to the policewoman.

Passing sentence, District Judge Nigel Dean described her as a "menace on the roads."