A MOTHER, who hurled a plastic bottle at a judge as he was sentencing her friend, was today jailed for six months for contempt of court.

Sammy Bateman, 24, threw the part-full bottle of drink across the courtroom as Judge David Hatton QC was handing out a suspended sentence to 20-year-old Molly Moulden, following an incident of serious violent disorder in Bradford city centre.

The missile cannoned into the wood-panelled wall behind the judge and ricocheted to the floor near to him last Friday. She also verbally abused him.

Bateman, of Tyersal Avenue, Tyersal, Bradford, was remanded in custody over the weekend and today appeared before Judge Hatton for contempt of court. Moulden sat with other friends and relatives in the public gallery.

Bateman's barrister, Imran Khan, said his client - who appeared in court with her arm in a sling from injuries she received when struggling with police after being escorted from the building on Friday - had described the bottle throwing as a moment of madness.

Mr Khan said it was an emotional outburst and she was ashamed and remorseful.

But jailing her, Judge Hatton told Bateman - who stood with her hand on her hip - he was not convinced her remorse was genuine.

The judge said that while fulfilling his duty in sentencing a number of defendants for a very serious offence of public disorder, she was responsible for creating further public disorder.

He said: "From the public gallery, you uttered a string of offensive abuse, and most importantly hurled a missile through the court, a plastic bottle containing a significant quantity of liquid.

"Your threats and abuse, and that demonstration of violence, sparked what was essentially an affray in the courtroom."

Judge Hatton said the hurling of the missile, while aimed at and intended for him, could have struck anyone. "It was a dangerous action."

The judge added: "The authority and dignity of the court cannot be challenged and undermined in that way. I will not tolerate members of staff in this building being intimidated in that way, also other professionals in the courtroom being intimidated in that way and having to witness such a spectacle of disorder.

"Thereafter, you struggled like an animal to resist the police and uttered racial abuse to those charged with attempting to calm you down.

"I am not convinced you have remorse. You have even found these proceedings not a little amusing, spending much of it communicating with your friends in the public gallery."

As she left the dock after being jailed, she repeatedly swore at the judge and called him an "old bastard."

After her further outburst, Bateman, the mother of a six-year-old child, was brought back into the dock. Judge Hatton told her he would take no further action but said it confirmed his view that she had little contrition.

A second defendant, Shannon Lovatt, 19, of Greenholme Court, Holme Wood, Bradford, the cousin of Moulden, was also before the court after sniggering and then shouting abuse at the judge at Friday's hearing.

Judge Hatton said she had been in custody since Saturday morning and he was satisfied that had been a salutory lesson and he would take no further action against her.