A DRUNK woman struck a car wash employee multiple times in the face before causing around £2,000-worth of damage to cars after an argument with her partner.

Adell Thomas “lost control” after drinking alcohol in the city centre, having already taken an anti-anxiety tablet she’d bought “off the street”, a court heard.

The 29-year-old was released from prison earlier this year and was still under post-sentencing supervision when she committed the offences at the car wash in George Street.

But a magistrate said glowing references from her offender manager and St Paul’s Hostel, where she is currently living, meant he was swayed into favouring a more lenient sentence.

“We have taken into account your early guilty plea and most importantly the two letters, which in my 13 years on this bench I have never seen before,” said chair of the bench Ken Knight on Thursday.

“That says a lot about how well things have gone recently.”

Thomas entered the car wash’s forecourt at 4pm on May 24 and “demanded someone call the police for an unknown reason after becoming agitated” said prosecutor Nicola Ritchie.

The defendant then picked up a traffic cone and threw it at a BMW 520, owned by John Fletcher, while it was being washed, causing £1,350 worth of damage.

Thomas was told by staff member Palawan Morabab he would call the police if she didn’t calm down, before she began screaming into his face and slapped him.

Miss Ritchie said members of staff then began to escort the defendant away after she had “assaulted the victim twice more in the same manner”.

She then “slammed her fists down on the bonnet” of a parked Audi A6, owned by Nicolae Flueraru, causing around £600 worth of damage, and dented a Volkswagen Golf.

The court heard Thomas had been jailed for seven months last October after she admitted common assault, criminal damage and breaching a suspended sentence for assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

Ian Parsons, defending, said his client had in the past “self-medicated for her mental health difficulties” by drinking “a significant amount”, but emphasised that she had turned a corner.

Thomas has been working hard to overcome her alcohol problems alongside Worcester Community Mental Health Centre, as well as the Tallow Hill hostel, he continued.

Mr Parsons said she had been prescribed anti-anxiety medication but had run out so bought a tablet off the street, though was not supposed to drink after taking it.

The solicitor said his client “simply lost control” after drinking with her partner and getting into an argument.

He said Thomas was “very upset” and wanted staff to call the police, though admitted “she had little recollection of what happened”.

During an interview with police, she was shown CCTV footage and “accepts the assault and the damage”, making a “full admission”.

Mr Parsons said in October the crown court were “left with no option but to send her to jail” but “you will see from the report that she is doing well”.

Mr Knight gave Thomas a four-month community order which includes a curfew between 7pm and 7am and ordered her to pay Mr Morabab £150 in compensation.

She was also ordered to pay £500 to Mr Fletcher for the damage to the BMW, £200 to Mr Flueraru and £100 to Golf-owner Mitchell Anderson – the latter could not be contacted by the court prior to the hearing to get an estimate on the damage.

Mr Knight said other people are “working very hard for you and you have to do the same back.”