A WOMAN who slapped a police officer has damaged her career prospects, a court was told.

Katrina Eaves, aged 23, of Foregate Street, Worcester, admitted assaulting a police constable in the execution of his duties when she appeared before magistrates in Worcester on Friday.

The court was told that Eaves was one of three women who doorstaff at Marr’s Bar in Worcester were attempting to eject during the incident at about 1.40am on June 19.

Sarah Stock, prosecuting, said two of the women left but Eaves did not. A police officer had asked her to leave, but she swore at him and said he had “no right” to ask her that.

Mrs Stock said: “At that point, the officer took hold of her to remove her from the premises and she struck the officer on the left lower jaw. She was then arrested. She was highly agitated and verbally abusive during her journey to custody.”

Mrs Stock said that the officer was not injured by the assault. Farah Rashid, defending, argued the assault had taken place on a reckless rather than intentional basis and that Eaves was a woman of previous good character with no convictions or cautions to her name who had a psychology degree.

Ms Rashid said: “If convicted, that’s her career effectively gone out of the window.

“It is extremely unfortunate and very much out of character for her to behave in this manner.

“I’m going to ask you to treat her as leniently as you can possibly do so. It’s a situation she will not be putting herself into again.”

Ms Rashid said Eaves was now a part-time waitress and that was “realistically what she was going to be doing for some considerable time until she finds someone willing to take her on with this conviction”.

Eaves was given a conditional discharge for 18 months and ordered to pay costs of £85.

Magistrates accepted the assault was reckless rather than deliberate.

She agreed to pay in full by September 5.