A WOMAN who slapped a police officer in the face after she was pulled from a car crash has narrowly avoided being sent back to jail.

Brogan Stacie Gillard was given a 31-month prison sentence in January 2017 for her role in a demeaning sexual assault on a young man in Barrow.

After she was released from jail she served the remainder of her sentence on licence which was due to end later this month.

However she was back before the courts yesterday where she pleaded guilty to assaulting a police officer.

Prosecutor Amy Labram told South Cumbria Magistrates' Court: "She was taken by ambulance to Furness General Hospital after a car crash on July 21.

"She began shouting and swearing at paramedics and police officers because she wanted to go to the toilet.

"Officers told her to follow the paramedics and they'd show her where the toilet is but then without warning she slapped PC Knowles to the right side of his face."

The court heard Gillard has 10 previous convictions including one from 2010 for assaulting a police officer.

Defence solicitor Karen Templeton said Gillard had been knocked unconscious in the crash when her boyfriend's car rolled three times and ended up on its roof.

"She had quite severe concussion and still gets headaches now," she said.

"She has had a problem with drinking over the years and since she was released from prison she has been trying to overcome those issues but in the last two or three weeks she has had a bit of a relapse."

When the magistrates said they were considering sentencing Gillard to unpaid work Brian Carruthers from the Probation Service said: "Her supervisor says she would not be suitable because if she turns up smelling of alcohol she'll be sent home and then in breach of the order."

Gillard, of Chapel Street in Dalton, was given an eight-week jail sentence suspended for 12 months.

She was also told to attend 25 rehabilitation days with the Probation Service, pay £50 compensation, £85 costs and a £122 victim surcharge.