A 23-year-old woman with mental health issues has been given a suspended sentence for a string of offences.
Rachel Pearce, of Halifax Road in Keighley, admitted assaulting a police constable, possessing a bladed article and making nuisance phone calls. She was given an eight-week prison sentence, suspended for a year, with 12 months’ supervision and a medium-level activity order, at Bradford and Keighley Magistrates Court.
Pearce admitted persistently making use of the public communication network to cause annoyance, inconvenience or anxiety; using threatening words or behaviour to cause harassment, alarm or distress at Airedale Hospital, Steeton; possessing a pointed article in a public place, razor blades; and assaulting a constable in the execution of his duty.
Her solicitor, Paul Fitzpatrick, said agencies had been slow to get involved in her case when she moved from Leeds to Keighley. A psychiatric report said she had an “extremely complex clinical picture”, with no quick solution.
But Mr Fitzpatrick said she was taking small steps in the right direction.
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