A woman who left a trail of destruction behind her when she wrecked flowers at a cemetery causing £600 worth of damage has been jailed.

Helen Devall ripped up plants, kicked vases and threw ornaments at Swanscombe Cemetery, near Dartford, on July 23 last year.

And when quizzed by police, the 47-year-old spat at PC Joseph Barbuti hitting him in the eye, Maidstone Crown Court heard.

Devall, of Rayfield Close, Bromley, has now received a two-month sentence after admitting criminal damage and assault on an emergency worker.

The court was told she had been previously diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and an emotional personality disorder.

But she was said to have relapsed and committed the offences when she stopped taking her medication after her daughter - her carer for 12 years - was rehoused out of Kent.

Judge David Griffith-Jones QC said her behaviour was "unpleasant, delinquent and anti-social".

He told Devall, who appeared in court via video link with Bronzefield Prison in Middlesex where she has spent four months on remand, she had caused anxiety to both relatives of those buried in the graves and to PC Barbuti.

"The seriousness of that offence of assaulting an emergency worker is aggravated by the fact it was committed during the period of the current pandemic," he said.

But the judge added her mental state "considerably reduced" her culpability.

"There is every reason to think this was an unfortunate set of incidents that should be seen as a one-off and out of character," he added.

Prosecutor Tim Devlin told the court that a member of the public had called police after witnessing Devall wrecking a number of tributes left at the council-owned cemetery off Park Road.

"She removed ornaments placed on graves by relatives and threw them around."

"She was observed causing damage to graves by ripping plants out of pots and throwing them across the graveyard, and kicking vases over," he said.

"She removed ornaments placed on graves by relatives and threw them around."

Ben Irwin, defending, said Devall described herself as being "in a very dark hole" at the time.

"Ms Devall was very isolated and plainly what began as forgetting to take her medication very rapidly degenerated," he told the court.

"By the time of the offences she was in a very bad way and when confronted about her behaviour she spoke about being someone else, being Jesus.

"She was challenged on that, became very agitated and this culminated in her spitting."

Devall, who was said to have now "stabilised", also admitted an offence of failing to surrender to court bail in August last year.

On release, she will live with her daughter and be under probation service supervision for 12 months.

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