AN ANGRY woman who had been taken to Kendal Police station spat into an officer’s eyes before laughing and telling her victim: “Have some covid.”

Carlisle Crown Court heard that the upsetting incident was simply the latest in a series of offences committed by 40-year-old Lisa Rustill-Bentley as her mental health spiralled out of control over the last year.

The defendant – who is now being cared for in a psychiatric facility – admitted all the allegations she faced. They included two police assaults, and two criminal damage by slashing car tyres, and a criminal damage which she caused as she kicked a taxi she had just got out of in Ambleside.

Prosecutor Gerard Rogerson gave the court an outline of the offences.

Describing the incident Kendal police station, Mr Rogerson said it happened on May 28 after officers brought the defendant in. They had earlier been warned that the defendant could be “volatile and aggressive.”

Rustill-Bentley had earlier been reported missing.

When she was brought to the station's custody desk, the defendant was uncooperative and engaged in “bizarre rants,” said Mr Rogerson. At one point, she looked towards a police sergeant and swore at him.

“She then spat directly into his face,” said Mr Rogerson.

“The spittle hit him in both eyes. As the officer turned away, Miss Rustill-Bentley laughed and shouted: “Have some covid.” The officer had to have his eyes washed out as a precaution.

He later said: “I have been spat at before in my role as a police officer but I don’t accept that it is an occupational hazard. I now have a nervous wait to establish whether she was suffering from covid, or indeed any other infectious disease.

Mr Rogerson also outlined another offence committed by the defendant on the same day in Ambleside.

The defendant had ordered the taxi, asking the driver to take her from Borrowdale near Keswick to Ambleside. The man reported later that she had been “cold and unfriendly” during the journey. She asked to be taken to “the laundry.”

When the cabbie asked for a more detailed location, she became aggressive and insulting, angrily telling him he should know where he was going. She began shouting, leaving him feeing intimidated.

When her contactless bank card did not work, she asked the driver is he was stupid, though eventually, the payment did go through, said Mr Rogerson.

The prosecutor added: “As she got out of the taxi, she launched a kick at the taxi’s rear passenger door. The driver said that he had been driving taxis for 17 years and had not before had complaints from customers.

“For him, this was a very unusual and distressing incident.”

The court was told about the other offences – including an assault on a postman who was simply trying to do his job; and an assault on another police officer and the two criminal damage incidents when the defendant slashed the tyres on neighbours’ cars.

Judge Nicholas Barker told the defendant: “It’s abundantly clear that over the course of last year, and this year your mental health was out of control.” She had been irrational, agitated, and aggressive towards others.

The judge noted the defendant had told probation staff she did not want to have injections to help stabilise her mental health and Judge Barker urged Rustill-Bentley to accept that medical treatment.

“Police officers go to work to do their job do not expect to be assaulted and spat at,” said the judge. But he added: “Simply no good would come from me sending you to prison.

“It would not be in the public interest.”

The judge suspended the six-month jail term he imposed for a year. The court heard that Rustill-Bentley – currently being treated at a mental health facility in York - was originally considered unfit to plead because of her mental illness but that decision was later reversed.