Woman sentenced for multiple assault and public order offences

A woman who pleaded guilty to multiple assaults and public order offences in Skegness has been sentenced to one year in prison.

Samantha Gardiner, 41, of Clarke Way, Southview Leisure Park, Skegness appeared at Lincoln Magistrates’ Court on 20 April. She was remanded to prison and pleaded guilty to all charges at a later hearing.

On Friday, 29 May, she was sentenced as follows:

• Assault a person - ABH (10 months imprisonment)
• Two counts of assaulting a constable in the execution of his / her duty (two months concurrent for each count, to run consecutively to the 10 months for the ABH)
• Assault by beating (one month concurrent)
• Racially / religiously aggravated harassment (no separate penalty)
• Two counts of using threatening / abusive words / behaviour likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress (one week concurrent for each count)
• One count of using threatening / abusive words / behaviour likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress (no separate penalty)

She had also breached earlier bail conditions, resulting in two additional concurrent sentences of one month each.

The court heard how on 28 February, a two-year-old child was being lifted onto an arcade ride in Skegness by a relative.  Gardiner was sat just a few metres away and threw a vodka bottle in the direction of the little girl, hitting her with force on the side of her head causing a large lump and bruising.

Our investigation later determined that prior to this incident, Gardiner had also been in the company of an unknown man and woman in the same arcade, where the man had recorded Gardiner on his mobile phone saying racial slurs, which were later posted to a local Facebook Community page.

Following the assault of the child, Gardiner then left the area and walked to another arcade.  As she made her way, she intentionally hit out a member of the public with her handbag which struck the side of his head, thankfully without causing any injury. He was not connected to any of the people linked to the child’s assault.

All of the above had been captured on CCTV.

The little girl’s family had spotted the woman and had alerted police. She was swiftly arrested and transported to Skegness Police Station.

While on route to Skegness police custody suite, Gardiner constantly verbally abused both attending officers. After arriving at custody, she started becoming violent, inflicting scratches and bruises on one officer, spitting in the face of another.  

Gardiner was charged and remanded with the multiple assaults and public order offences.  She appeared at Lincoln Magistrates’ Court on Monday 3 March, where she was refused bail.

Sergeant Billy Spence said:

This woman’s behaviour was unpredictable and alarming for all those who encountered her that day, and we have absolutely zero tolerance for that. People are entitled to enjoy the amenities that our wonderful town offers without fear of encountering such distasteful and frankly dangerous behaviour. Individuals found to be behaving in such a way will be dealt with swiftly and robustly.

I would like to thank our community partners who greatly facilitated this investigation. Our teams will continue to work closely with partner agencies to ensure that offenders who disrupt the everyday enjoyment and safety of our community are held to account and brought to justice.