A DRUG addict turned dealer punched a security guard in the face and smashed his designer glasses during a drunken rampage at a Worcester hotel.

Elaine Pritchard also smashed four panes of glass and four plant pots after she lost her temper during the ugly episode at the Fownes Hotel in the city's Clare Street.

The hotel staff have been at the frontline in the fight against Covid-19, providing a home for rough sleepers and other people without stable accommodation during the pandemic.

However, 47-year-old Pritchard who appeared over videolink at Worcester Magistrates Court on Tuesday, rewarded the kindness shown to her by assaulting Mr Chan and smashing up part of the hotel.

She admitted punching security guard Michael Chan in the face, breaking his £342 Ray Ban glasses on September 30 this year. During the incident she also caused £493 of damage to four panes of glass and four plant pots at the hotel.

Jackie Rogers, prosecuting, said Pritchard was being abusive and threatening towards hotel staff and that security guard Michael Chan had put himself between her and a support worker because he was concerned the support worker would be assaulted.

"She did punch him and caused an injury to his nose. His glasses were knocked off" said the prosecutor.

During the attack she also kicked the same security guard in the shins, the court heard.

She has now been recalled to prison on another sentence but was jailed for a further 12 weeks for the attack at the Fownes.

We have previously reported how Pritchard, who allowed her Worcester home to be used as a base by a Scouse gang, was jailed after walking out of rehab.

Last July a city judge said he had no choice but to jail Pritchard after she repaid an 'act of mercy' by walking out of care farm Willowdene in a 'fit of pique', breaching the terms of her suspended sentence. She had arrived at Worcester Crown Court looking pale and gaunt, carrying her belongings in a black bin liner and a carrier bag.

The haggard drug addict showed no emotion as Judge Robert Juckes QC, now retired, activated the two year suspended sentence imposed for conspiracy to supply heroin and crack cocaine in Worcester.

The original sentence was suspended for two years by judge Jim Tindal on July 8 but the breach came within just six days (on July 14) when Pritchard walked out of Willowdene. She had been required to live there as part of work to help rehabilitate her and wean her off class A drugs.

Pritchard was used by Neil Hyatt, nicknamed 'Scouse', who set up shop in her home in Donaldson Court, Princes Street, Diglis as part of a so-called 'cuckooing' operation.

Hyatt, aged 35, of Prescott Road, Liverpool was jailed for five and a half years for a managerial role in the same conspiracy; Nicholas Grainger, aged 39, of Park Street, Worcester, for three years; Ben Kelly, 19, of Prescott Road, Liverpool received two years in prison suspended for two years.

Arrests were made after officers had been on patrol in Diglis, on Wednesday May 1 last year as part of an operation to tackle 'County Lines' dealing. Officers seized wraps of heroin and crack cocaine in cling-film and two mobile phones. Hyatt was found with around £1,000 in tightly rolled notes in cling film and a further £622 in notes and coins. The phones were found to contain advertising messages sent out to users, one of which, sent on April 30, read 'biggest and best about'.

Kelly was also found with £1,000 cash, 10 wraps of heroin and crack cocaine and also a train ticket from Liverpool to Worcester dated April 29.

A spokesman for Fownes Hotel said: "Our staff are working endlessly with our local authority and our main priority is to ensure everyone is kept safe throughout this pandemic."