A mum who threatened to slice a policeman’s throat and assaulted a shop worker has been banned from every Co-op in the country.

Sharley Coster’s drunken antics started after the break up of a “toxic relationship” which resulted in her youngest children moving in with relatives in Tonbridge.

A court heard she would regularly turn up at their home drunk and would start banging or kicking the front door and shouting through the letter box in an attempt to see the youngsters.

In some instances, she would call the police and falsely claim her children were in danger.

Her bad behaviour didn’t stop there as she also harassed a neighbour living in the same street and ruined a barbecue at the neighbour’s home which her children had been invited to.

The 36-year-old first started turning up at the address and causing trouble on August 6, 2022. District Judge Stephen Leake heard this carried on over the next eight months.

When police were called to her home over concerns for her welfare, Coster called an officer an offensive word and threatened to slice his throat, testicles and face. She then threatened to stab him.

Not content with committing all those offences, a few months later, she went on a shoplifting spree at the Co-op in Tonbridge and assaulted a shop worker.

When she was arrested over the theft matter and taken into custody, she was let out in the exercise yard and destroyed an orange police ball by biting into it.

Coster, of Silverhurst Drive, Tonbridge, was later charged with stalking, harassment without violence, threatening behaviour, assault by beating, shoplifting and criminal damage in relation to ruining police ball.

She appeared in court in November last year and pleaded guilty to all the offences and a pre-sentencing report was ordered. Coster returned to Sevenoaks Magistrates Court on February 19.

Judge Leake heard she would regularly turn up in the street where her children were living and loiter outside the address. She would bang on the door and shout through the letterbox.

Richard Lamb prosecuting said: “One incident was on September 15, 2022, and she was constantly banging on the relative’s door and shouting through the letter box to get the children to come out.

“She would turn up and kick the door...and would be shouting through the letter box. She made threats when she banged on the door and shouted through the letter box and said, ‘Watch your back’.

“She would also attend the neighbour’s address and shout through their letter box and even went round the back shouted over the fence as there was a gap, and [when] the neighbour was having a barbecue, which was attended by her children and their relatives, it had to be cut short because she was banging on the door.”

The prosecutor said she turned up again the following day and started banging and shouting. When she was told the children were not there she tried to push her way into the home.

He added: “Coster then called the police to say the children were falling out of the window.”

When the police turned up to see if the children were in any danger, they found she was lying and she was arrested. During interview she made no comment.

He told the court that on April 12 last year, the police were called to Coster’s home over concerns for her welfare. When an officer arrived at her address, she shouted out of the window for him to go around the back. He opened the back door and saw her inside.

Mr Lamb added: “She had taken some tablets and he went there to give medical assistance and she picked up a knife and pointed it at him...she said she was going to slice his throat, his testicles and his face and she was swearing and said she would smash his face through the open door.”

She was detained and taken from her home to hospital and then on to custody. She again made no comment during interview.

On July 10 last year Coster went into the Co-op store in Tonbridge three times in a matter of hours.

The prosecutor said she first went in at about 6pm and filled up a trolley with booze and walked out of the store past the tills without paying.

He added: “Then at 7pm she went back and did the same thing; filled a trolley with groceries and walked out. Then at 8.30pm she returned to the store once more and picked up a bottle of pink gin and left the area to walk out of the store and a member of staff challenged her and asked her to leave.

“She pulled the woman’s hair and pushed her and she was arrested nearby.”

Mr Lamb added: “She has 10 convictions for 18 offences, with 10 of them relevant, they are battery, in 2020 she had convictions for criminal damage and assault and she has a banning order from the Co-op and I will be applying for a Criminal Behaviour Order.”

Sara Haroon, defending, told the judge her client was in a very bad place when she committed the offences and had been drinking alcohol and using cannabis after an abusive relationship with her former partner.

She added: “They were misplaced efforts to see her children.

“Her emotions were running high, she’s conceded the stalking went on for eight months, but in her favour the last offence was in July last year, she’s not been in trouble since.

“She now only drinks socially and there is no cannabis, she had got out of a toxic relationship and has changed friends and is getting support from them.

“The ultimate plan is that the two young children live with her and she has made significant improvements [in her life]. There has been no contact between the parties for some time. I would invite you to suspend any custody term.

Judge Leake told Coster she had committed a package of very serious offences but noted she had been under a lot of mental distress at the time of her offending.

He said she had been courteous and polite with the probation officer who interviewed her and also presented herself in court in the same way, but that was in stark contrast to her previous behaviour.

He added: “This went on over multiple dates over a very long period of time and you even tried to push into the address on one occasion and shouted over the neighbour’s fence making the children go indoors to their home.

“The PC went to your address because you had taken an overdose, he sought only to go to your aid but you used a knife or saw and pointed it at him.”

The judge said Coster had made a good impression on the probation officer who carried out the report but had failed to empathise with the victims when asked about the effect her behaviour had on them.

He felt she was at a medium risk of re-offending. She had previous good compliance with court orders and that is she was jailed, she would lose her home.

As a result he jailed Coster for 22 weeks but suspended the term for 24 months and ordered she attend 30 rehabilitation sessions and carry out 150 hours of unpaid work.

She received no separate penalty for the criminal damage offence but was ordered to pay all four of her victims £100 compensation.

He also placed her on a two-year restraining order, banning her from contacting the children’s relatives and their neighbour or going to their street.

He also gave Coster on a 24-month Criminal Behaviour Order which bans her from going into any retail premises with a bag and if she is asked to leave she must. It also bans her from entering every Co-op store in England and Wales.