A DRUNKEN woman who bit a barmaid and a police officer during a "disgusting" incident in a Bournemouth pub has been jailed.

Rachel Marie Tubbs sobbed as she was sent to prison for 22 months at Bournemouth Crown Court.

She had been found guilty at an earlier hearing after denying causing actual bodily harm to bar worker Susan Hillesdon as she tried to evict her from the Kings Arms in Wallisdown Road on December 13 2019.

Tubbs, 47, of Award Road, Wimborne admitted assaulting an emergency worker, namely a police officer, on the same occasion.

The court heard she screamed abuse at officers before biting the PC on his arm in the back of a police car.

Prosecutor Tom Evans read a victim impact statement from Susan Hillesdon.

She said: "I had to go to the doctor to have blood tests for hepatitis and HIV and this caused a great deal of worry.

"I suffered from ongoing nerve damage and weakness in my left arm. When I am at work I find it hard to cope with any kind of confrontation and I am fearful of walking home at night."

The court was told that Tubbs has a record of similar incidents, all of which occurred when she had been drinking.

And Mr Evans said she has "an unfortunate record of behaviour of attending public houses, becoming inebriated and then becoming violent."

Defending, Robert Grey said Tubbs was "highly distressed" at the prospect of going to prison and added: "Her problem is alcohol.

"She acknowledges that she has a propensity to binge drink during times of stress. She had lost her job. She sought company in pubs for companionship and friendship."

Mr Recorder Charles Morrison sentenced her to 18 months in prison for ABH with a consecutive four months for assaulting an emergency worker.

The judge said: "You had been drinking to excess. It seems that this is something that you are in the habit of doing. You went to the Kings Arms pub and made a nuisance of yourself.

"This was a deliberate, nasty, unprovoked attack. I need to protect those who work in licensed establishments. You have a number of convictions for precisely the same disgusting offences."