LUCK ran out for a persistent offender who is now behind bars after magistrates heard she was involved in a brawl in a city street.
Gemma Payne shook her head and was in tears as she was told she was being jailed for eight weeks, after ignoring warnings previously from magistrates she was at risk.
Payne appeared at Worcester Magistrates Court on Thursday, (August 25), and admitted using threatening, abusive words, and behaviour likely to cause harrassment, alarm or distress.
The 27-year-old, of Brittania Road, Worcester, accepted by pleading guilty she had breached a suspended order and a conditional discharge.
Samreen Asfar, prosecuting, said at around 6pm on April 14 this year, a concerned member of the public called police to say two women were fighting in St Paul's Street.
Magistrates viewed footage of the fight, between Payne and Amy Wadley, before police arrived.
The prosecutor said police gave advice to both women to disperse but it began again an hour later spilling out into the road, forcing cars to stop.
"It was a sustained incident, a substantial disturbance," Miss Asfar said.
The court heard Payne was given a 16-week suspended sentence for assault occasioning actual bodily harm in February 2021.
The suspended sentence was extended after a battery manner, and she went on to breach it again with another public order offence for which she received the conditional discharge.
Paul Stanley, defending, said the offence was not imprisonable on its own and highlighted that a witness had said Payne had not been the aggressor in the fight.
Appealing for magistrates not to jail her Mr Stanley said she had a drinking problem and she had "done well" with previous requirements ordered by the court.
But providing an update on Payne's work with the probation service, the service's representative Jayne Stewart said: "I'm not sure Miss Payne is at the point where she wants to wholeheartedly address her alcohol and drug use."
Magistrates find Gemma Payne had 'no realistic prospect of rehabilitation'
Kevin Lloyd-Wright, chairman of the magistrates bench, told Payne they were sending her to jail as the latest offence was the third breach of her suspended sentence.
Mr Lloyd-Wright said they were jailing her because they had found it would not be unjust to do so and there was not a realistic prospect of rehabilitation because Payne was currently not dealing with her drug and alcohol issues.
Payne has regularly appeared in the Worcester News in recent years including for brutally attacking her girlfriend in front of her three children, brawling outside a Tesco Express in Foregate Street, and punching a man in front of the police.
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- Amy Wadley also appeared at the court on Thursday admitting a charge of using threatening, abusive words, and behaviour likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress.
Wadley was fined £120 by magistrates, and ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £34 and costs of £135.
- This article was amended on August 30. In the original article, we incorrectly reported Gemma Payne was a mum-of-three.
This error has now been amended, after this was pointed out to us.
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