Bushcraft teacher fined after biting officer on leg

Anna Leitch was handed the fine at York Magistrates' Court

A woman who drunkenly bit a police officer on the leg while being arrested has had to give up her job as a bushcraft instructor after admitting the offence.

Anna Leitch, 39, of Tornado Close, in Bedale, pleaded guilty to assaulting an emergency worker at York Magistrates' Court on Thursday.

She was fined £421 and disqualified from driving for 22 months after the incident occurred when she was arrested for drink driving after going to a pub in Northallerton on 29 June.

Neil Cutty, who was representing her, said: "She knew what she was doing was wrong."

He also said the mother-of-two, who is originally from Northern Ireland and going through a divorce, would have to give up her job in bushcraft, which teaches people survival skills, as it required her to drive.

He said Leitch's version of events on that night was that she had got in her car to drive home after drinking at a pub and had been followed by a car with four men inside.

She claimed they got out of their car and pulled her out of hers before assaulting her.

The court also heard Leitch did not tell police how much alcohol she had had to drink before getting in the car.

Abbie Sample, prosecuting, said when police officer Ben Dowson arrived, he arrested her but Leitch went on to try to break free from her handcuffs.

She then bit him on his right thigh, but said to the officer after the incident: "I bit your trousers, I did not bite your leg."

Leitch was told she would get a reduction in her disqualification if she attended a 16 -hour drink driving rehabilitation scheme.

The £421 fine would also be claimed through the benefits money she receives.

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