A WOMAN who attacked officers and put two police vehicles and a cell out of commission with excrement and urine has been jailed.

Mel Thompson, presently of no fixed abode, was produced in custody at Wrexham Magistrates Court on Tuesday for sentence.

The 32-year-old, originally from Mold, had admitted several assaults against police officers at a previous hearing, as well as criminal damage.

She admitted one further criminal damage offence at Tuesday's hearing.

Justin Espie, prosecuting, told the court that the first incident involving Thompson was on August 28, when CCTV operators made police aware of her involvement in 'suspicious activity' in Wrexham.

Officers attended and attempted to put her in handcuffs on Tuttle Street, but the defendant became aggressive and poured a can of alcohol over one of them.

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She admitted to the police she had heroin in her pocket and when she was put in a cell, she smeared the contents of her colostomy bag over the tannoy system and urinated, damaging the cell.

Then, on November 15, she damaged a car - scratching a rock down the side of the bodywork and throwing it at one of the windows.

On November 25, police were on patrol when they saw Thompson walking into traffic on Mold Road.

She was detained - but lashed out at the police, who had to force her into the cell in a police vehicle.

The Leader: Mel Thompson (NWP)Mel Thompson (NWP) (Image: North Wales Police)In response, Thompson once again removed her colostomy bag and put excrement across the inside of the vehicle, rendering it unusable.

She was taken to Wrexham Maelor Hospital, where she tried to bite one of the arresting officers and kicked out.

She later kicked out again without provocation, striking an officer, and became verbally abusive.

Thompson was declared fit with no mental disorder and once put in a vehicle to be taken to Llay custody, she urinated all over the cell - putting a second police vehicle out of commission.

The offending also put Thompson in breach of a suspended sentence.

Elzbeth Kenny, defending, said her client had been on remand at HMP Berwyn since December 14, meaning she'd already served the equivalent of an eight week prison sentence.

She explained: "She is a 32-year-old transgender lady.

"LGBT people in the community are at higher risk and she has dealt with discrimination because of her sexuality and gender identity.

"This has had a massive impact on her mental health.

The Leader:

"She has also been facing a lot of prejudice whilst in HMP Berwyn and was very reluctant whilst in prison to go on the segregation unit because she didn't want to be referred to as a paedophile purely because of her transgender identity."

Ms Kenny told the court Thompson had been suffering severe mental health issues in November 2023, having split up with her partner.

She added: "She has been known to the mental health services.

"The main mischief that needs to be addressed to prevent this lady committing offences appears to be her use of illegal substances.

"Sometimes that is compounded by alcohol abuse.

"She hails from Mold but she has primarily been mixing with a negatively influencing peer group in Wrexham.

"She's under no illusion that you could send her to prison today, but if she were to serve a purely custodial sentence, I fear she'd come out of prison with the same problems that caused her offending."

District Judge Gwyn Jones said the offending had begun "in a very short period after the suspended sentence being imposed" and demonstrated a "continued pattern of anti-social behaviour."

As such, he activated the breached 16 week suspended sentence in full.

He handed down a total of 52 weeks for the latest raft of offences, to run consecutive.

That made a total custodial term of 68 weeks.
Thompson will have to pay a £154 victim surcharge on her release.