Chesterfield mother spat in police officer's face after telling her she was Covid-positive

Nicole Ryder was discovered drunk in her home while her two young children were present and later spat at a female police officer as she was escorted to the police station, Chesterfield Magistrates’ Court was told on Monday, October 12.

Officers also witnessed the children picking up cannabis joints and trying to drink from bottles of alcohol which had been left on the floor, said Robert Carr, prosecuting.

“Police officers were called to a disturbance and when they got there they found three men standing in the garden, while the defendant was standing in the doorway with a child in her arms,” he said.

“One of the men was her father and he had called around to check on her welfare. She told police that she had been drinking strong cider but had not drunk anything else. There were two children in the house and officers were concerned for their safety.

“She became aggressive and she said that they weren’t going to take her children from her. One of them started playing with a rolled cigarette and she said, ‘No, my spliff’ and she then started rolling another one in front of them.”

Ryder, of Baden Powell Avenue, also told police to leave because she had Covid-19 and Aids, and spat in an officer’s face as she was walked to Chesterfield Police Station, following the incident on June 1 this year.

Ryder admitted possession of cannabis and assaulting an emergency worker when she appeared before the court. Her children were also taken away by Social Services and are currently in foster care, the court heard.

Mitigating, Steve Brint told the court: “She has said that her behaviour was disgusting but she was subject to domestic violence almost from childhood and when she found boyfriends they seemed to be of the same ilk. She doesn’t normally drink but on this occasion she had been with a former partner who does drink and does Class A drugs.

“This offence happened at the height of the pandemic and I have told her that there is a real possibility that she could go to immediate custody.”

Ryder was given a 16-week prison sentence, suspended for 12 months and ordered to complete 21 rehabilitation activity days with the probation service and a 12-week electronically monitored curfew.

She was also ordered to pay £150 in compensation, £85 in prosecution costs and a £128 victim surcharge.”

The court also ordered that the drugs be forfeited and destroyed.

Sentencing, District Judge Andrew Davison said: “You told police officers that you had Aids and Covid-19 and parliament wants us to impose custody on anyone involved in such circumstances. It happens to have been a female police officer who you spat at when she wasn’t doing anything wrong. You allowed your children to drink from a beer can and handle a spliff, and then rolling one in front of the officers is just bare faced cheek.”

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