Mother, 28, who punched policewoman then bragged 'she deserved it' is fined just £160 - after arguing 'I only hit her once'
Lucy Cleary 28, who lives off state handouts, was said to have rained multiple blows upon PC Robyn Lowe's head in a drunken rage.
The incident came as she was being detained for throwing glasses and chairs around a Wetherspoons pub.
Cleary was eventually overpowered by PC Lowe using incapacitant spray.
But when other officers arrived, she said: 'Mate, she deserved the punch in the face.'
Later at the police station she added: 'I hope that bizzy got a good punch because she deserved it.'
The officer sustained a lump to her left eyebrow.
Cleary, from Moulton, Cheshire, faced up to 16 weeks jail under sentencing guidelines after she admitted common assault, criminal damage and assaulting an emergency worker.
But she walked free from Chester magistrates court with a 12 month community order after District Judge Ian Barnes accepted her plea that she only struck the officer once.
He told her: 'That punch was used against an emergency worker, a police officer just doing their job and I have seen the injury.
'They have a nasty lump to their head afterwards.
'You were also making comments in the police station suggesting perhaps there was little remorse.
'But I expect that was in drink and I suspect on reflection you have different views.'
The incident occurred on April 15 at 11.15pm after Cleary was thrown out of the Penny Black pub in Northwich following an altercation with another customer.
But she returned shortly afterwards to continue the argument, pushing the bar manager when he intervened, prosecutor Annika Livermore said.
'She started to throw drink glasses about the venue narrowly missing other customers,' she added.
'Chairs were also thrown by the defendant Miss Cleary.'
Police were called but Cleary ran at PC Lowe, who was responding to the incident.
'She pushed her away and at one point had her hand on the officer's chest, throat and face,' Ms Livermore said.
'Miss Cleary tried to run away again but PC Lowe pursued on foot and and caught up with the defendant who continued behaving in an aggressive manner.
'She pushed the officer and punched the officer several times to the head.
'The officer sustained a lump to the eyebrow.'
When back-up officers arrived, the court heard Cleary told one: 'Mate, she deserved the punch in the face.'
After being taken to a police station Cleary added: 'I hope that bizzy got a good punch because she deserved it.'
Cleary, who has no previous convictions, gave no comment in police interview.
Her lawyer Hannah Kelly said: 'It was one push and one punch and she accepts the injury.'
The court heard Cleary is a single mother with three children living on benefits.
Under the terms of her sentence, Cleary must perform up to 10 rehabilitation activity days.
She was also ordered to pay £300 in compensation to PC Lowe and £50 to the pub for the damage she caused.
The judge banned her from going to the Penny Black pub for 12 months.
Another woman is facing trial later this year over the fracas.
Since 2022, assaulting an emergency worker can carry a maximum sentence of two years' imprisonment.
However under sentencing guidelines, courts have to consider shorter sentences, fines or community orders for offences with a lower level of harm or culpability.
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RAW VID - 3488293 A family who were subjected to a campaign of abuse by their neighbour before she launched a vicious spade attack are living in fear that she could return to 'finish the job she intended' after she was spared jail. Mother-of-three Catherine 'Cat' Lloyd, 44, pounced from behind her gate and smashed her victim over the top of the head in a narrow alleyway between their homes in a late-night attack his family say he was lucky to come out of alive. In new CCTV from the night obtained by the Daily Mail, she then smashes him over the head with a wooden bat with the help of her ex-boyfriend whom she had called over to join in. The horrifying double attack, caught on CCTV, followed a three-year campaign of abuse against the victim's grandparents-in-law in which she made 1am death threats, branded them 'paedophiles' and 'murderers' online and even threw bricks at them. 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We had to get cameras put in. She was shouting it over the fence. For nearly two years I didn't dare go out our back gate because she'd be there all the time waiting for me. 'We had the police out so many times and we told them she's like a ticking time bomb. You just don't know when she's going to kick off.' In social media posts seen by Daily Mail, Lloyd posted their faces and names online, calling them 'sex pests, child abusers and creepy ass stalkers'. When their grandson-in-law stuck up for them one day, Lloyd turned and 'suddenly hated him' as well, shouting abuse at him and issuing death threats. They explained: 'If she mouthed off, he would give her as much as back. That's what she didn't like. Our policy was to ignore her and it made it worse. His policy was you bite me, I'll bite you back. That made her worse too, you couldn't win.' In one terrifying moment in 2021, Lloyd allegedly pushed her pensioner neighbour off her bike, leaving her with bruises all over her arm. She was arrested but there was 'insufficient evidence' for her to be charged. In another, on July 17 2022, she threw bricks into the garden of the neighbours' granddaughter and husband while they were all having a barbeque. The Daily Mail has obtained a dossier of CCTV and photos which shows Lloyd's 'calculated' plot to attack the family. On April 18, 2023, a camera picked her up making a chilling threat, shouting: 'Do you have a preference? I've got a spade, I've got garden shears or I've got a rake.' Just three weeks later, on May 14, she stormed out her back gate at around 9.30pm and struck her victim over the head with a spade. The victim's grandmother-in-law, who saw the horror unfold before her eyes, said: 'He was bleeding a lot, it was so vicious.' Her partner added: 'She sprung up from behind the gate, she'd been waiting there with a spade in hand waiting for him to come back round. Then she's gone "there he is" and lunged at him with a spade. If that isn't with intent, what is? 'She hit him with the flat of the spade. If she'd hit him with the edge, he wouldn't be here. The lad would not be here now, guaranteed.' Police have only released footage of the spade attack, but the Mail can reveal how the violence did not stop there. Moments later, Lloyd rang up her ex-partner, the father of her children, who quickly arrived at the scene armed with a wooden baton. CCTV shows Aaron Hockey manhandling the victim's mother while he was inside recovering from his head wound. When he heard the commotion, he came outside and was smashed around the head by Hockey before Lloyd joined in. Hockey was handed a nine-month sentence, suspended for two years, for possession of an offensive weapon, assault occasioning actual bodily harm and affray. In other CCTV obtained by the Daily Mail, Lloyd is seen putting her middle finger up at her neighbours' camera while her children walk in front of her, while in another she throws her parking ticket on the floor. 'To say she's got no respect for the law would be an understatement,' they said. The neighbours, who have lived in their house for 30 years, say they had 'never encountered' anyone like Lloyd before, adding: 'We weren't sure what she was capable of and that's the scary bit.' They added: 'She'd used this tenuous excuse that we were all paedophiles and after her children to exact violence and threats and assault us. 'It's a total fabrication. It's so degenerate, it's like she was provoking us and looking for a reaction. When she didn't get it, it made her worse. It's about the worst thing you can call a person, a paedophile.' Although Lloyd has finally been convicted two years later, they say it has brought 'no relief'. 'It's such a deflation that we've waited all this time, it's finally gone to court, we had all the evidence and we just think where's the justice in that? 'Until the bailiffs come round, she's still got the keys to the place. What's to stop her coming round? 'She's not even in prison anymore. There's a restraining order but that's not stopped her before. There's physically nothing to stop her running back again.' Lloyd's neighbour on the other side was more sympathetic to the situation, telling the Daily Mail: 'I feel sorry for her. She needs help. She was always very friendly and helpful. She would offer to do my shopping and made me a Christmas dinner. 'She's got lovely twins. 'We were good friends for quite a while but then she cut herself off. I think mental problems started getting to her. 'She was friendly, helpful, bright, she could be funny.' Lloyd was jailed for ten months on July 31 at Peterborough Crown Court after admitting grievous bodily harm without intent. But she was released from custody due to time spent on remand. DCI Lloyd Davis said: 'Catherine Lloyd's behaviour in this case was completely unacceptable. 'Irrespective of any ongoing dispute, violence like this is not the answer. I'm pleased the victim can now move on.'
