Sunderland police officer kicked in face with high heeled shoe

Gypsy Rose Lee Winehouse, 25, had already punched the officer twice, when she kicked him near his right eye at Park Lane Interchange on April 16, Sunderland magistrates heard.

Prosecutor Ian Lowther said the incident, at 9.45pm, was sparked by passers-by shouting at Winehouse and calling her a prostitute.

“Police see the defendant shouting obscenities at members of the public and is arrested by an officer.

“She assaulted him by hitting him two to three times in the face with her fists and was restrained on the floor. She kicked him to the side of his face, causing a half inch cut to his right eye.”

She was taken to Southwick Police Station, where she kicked a detention officer in the groin ‘causing immediate pain and discomfort’, Mr Lowther added.

Winehouse, of Dinsdale Street South, admitted assaulting a police officer and a detention officer and being drunk and disorderly.

The first victim said in a statement: “The defendant was fully aware I was a police officer and attacked me by kicking me in the face. She was wearing high-heeled shoes and had she caught me a mere millimetres further to the left I could have sustained a very serious injury to my eye. I firmly believe that has she hit me in the eye I would have permanently lost my sight.”

Jason Smith, defending, said Winehouse had been sitting with a man on a bench, minding their own business after drinking vodka.

“Other people were being derogatory, making assertions towards her because she was sitting there in a drunken state and because of the way she was dressed,” he said. “She perhaps lost her cool at a point.

“She is different, and there is nothing wrong with that – I think she looks exceptional the way she dresses – but some people like to give Gypsy a hard time about that.”

Winehouse was given a 12-month community order, a three-month 7pm to 7am curfew and must pay £320 in costs and compensation.