A 25 YEAR old Skipton woman who racially abused a police officer the day after her mum died, has been ordered by magistrates to pay the officer £100 in compensation.

Amy Reynoldson was said to have no recollection of the incident, which ended up with her being arrested and taken to the police station, because she had been drinking and had been in a highly emotional state, heard Skipton Magistrates Court.

Police went to the Coach Street area of Skipton at around 11.45pm on June 16 after receiving a call about a woman in distress and because of fears for her safety.

When the two officers, including Pc Sohail Tariq, tried to help her, she said her mother had died recently and became abusive.

Reynoldson told Pc Tariq she would ‘batter him’ if he came close and was also abusive to the accompanying sergeant, the court heard yesterday (Friday).

The officers were concerned for Reynoldson’s safety, because of what she was saying, and tried following her, offering help, but she continued to be abusive, particularly to Pc Tariq, using racist language that he found shocking, the court heard.

Reynoldson was arrested, and in the van on the way to the police station told the officer that his mum ‘was going to die from cancer’.

Once at the police station, Pc Tariq was recommended to leave the custody suite because of her behaviour towards him.

In a statement read out in court, Pc Tariq said it was not the first time he had been abused racially and it was not deserved. He added that he could not understand why she had said what she did about his mother and that he had found that upsetting.

Reynoldson, who admitted using racially aggravated abusive words or behaviour towards Pc Tariq causing alarm or distress, had been drinking heavily on an empty stomach following the death of her mother the day before, the court was told.

Siobhan White, mitigating, said it had been clear going through with her what she had said on the night, just before she had come into court, had been the first time she had heard it, and had spent most of the time with her head in her hands.

“She said she had not slept or eaten anything for three days. She decided to drink that day, but that had been a stupid idea. She was in a highly emotional state and had tried to call her GP, but the number had just kept ringing.”

Miss White said Reynoldson took full responsibility for her actions, was embarrassed and felt the words she had used were abhorrent.

She was a carer for her 80 year old father and had stopped drinking since the incident.

Magistrates told Reynoldson, of Watsons Houses, Skipton, said that it appeared she had drunk to excess to block out what she had been feeling to the extent she had not known what she was saying.

She was fined £200, ordered to pay £100 compensation to Pc Tariq, and a surcharge of £34.