A DRUNK woman was ‘unfit’ to appear in court after assaulting an emergency worker, security staff refusing to let her inside because of the state she was in.

Rowena Thorneycroft arrived at Worcester Magistrates Court yesterday where she faced a single charge of common assault against an emergency worker, a police officer named in court as PC Pinney. However, her solicitor, Tariq Khan, had to travel to Redditch Magistrates Court to represent another client and by the time he returned to the Worcester court, the 52-year-old defendant, who intended to plead guilty to the assault, was already drunk. There was a delay in the magistrates getting to the Worcester court which meant the case could not be called on at the scheduled time.

Thorneycroft of St Paul’s Hostel in Tallow Hill, Worcester, is accused of committing the assault on April 4 this year. The court clerk said Thorneycroft was ‘in a less able state’ than she had been when she first arrived at court in the morning. “Security would not let her into the building,” he said.

Mr Khan said he had taken instructions from her and received some documents from her in the morning before attending the other case in Redditch. He said after this conversation she left the court.

He added: “She is unfit. She was not fit to enter the building. They refused her entry. It was going to be a guilty plea in any event. I’m keen for the case to be dealt with as quickly as possible without any further delay.”

He said he hoped the assault could be sentenced at the same time as an offence of drunk and disorderly. “She has a history of drinking, a history of drinking, a history of mental health issues.”

Magistrates adjourned the case until 2pm on August 5 when they hoped to deal with both the assault and the allegation she was drunk and disorderly.

Her unconditional bail was extended until that date.

The probation service said she was already on a fairly intensive order.