A woman who spat at and hit two police officers told a court she was just shouting after claiming they “manhandled” her and she didn’t mean to “hurt anyone”.

Sarah Rossiter was arrested over an unrelated matter after being pulled over by police in a car in January last year.

But after being taken to Maidstone Police Station in January last year, she spat at PC Neil Kinrade and PC Timothy Starkie as they were returning her to the cells.

However, during her sentencing hearing, the 32-year-old told magistrates she had just been shouting as the officers had “manhandled” her and spittle had come out of her mouth and that she didn’t mean to “hurt anyone.”

Rossiter, from Sittingbourne, admitted two counts of assault on an emergency worker when she appeared in court earlier this year and the case was adjourned to allow a pre-sentencing report to be carried out on her.

She returned to Margate Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday (March 4) to hear her fate.

Prosecutor Lucie Fish told the bench the incident had happened on January 28, last year.

She added: “She was arrested over an unrelated matter and taken to Maidstone police station and as she was being returned to her cell she spat at both officers and hit one on the right cheek and the gloved hand of the other.

“One officer gave a victim impact statement which said it was not nice to be spat at and that they had only been carrying out a simple traffic stop.

“She has previous for obstructing police.”

Defending herself, Rossiter told the court she didn’t mean to spit at anyone.

She added: “They were manhandling me and I shouted and they thought I was spitting. I didn’t intend to hurt anyone.”

The chairman of the bench said: “For the two charges we are placing you on a 12-month community order which will involve carrying out 100 hours of unpaid work as you pleaded guilty and it was not deliberate but reckless.”

Rossiter was also ordered to pay £50 compensation to both officers and a victim surcharge of £114 and £85 court costs.

She will repay what she owes the court at a rate of £20 a month as she’s on Universal Credit.

It was never stated in court if Rossiter was charged with any other offence relating to the traffic stop.