Alcohol-detecting tag for Telford woman who attacked her cousin in a drunken rage

Rebecca Spragg, who remembers nothing about the incident, left Jordan Summers in so much fear he had moved address and still has flashbacks, Shrewsbury Crown Court heard on Monday .

Judge Peter Barrie told Spragg, aged 31, of Woodside, Telford, that alcohol had been a curse all her adult life.

He said he would suspend the 12-month jail sentence he was imposing for 18 months if she agreed to wear a special tag which could detect if Spragg consumed alcohol.

He imposed the sentence, with the tag in place for four months and imposed a retraining order forbidding her to contact her victim.

Spragg admitted two charges, one of wounding and one of assault, in February 2020.

Olivia-May Appleby, prosecuting, said that Spragg's cousin Mr Summers, had been in constant touch at the time.

He went to her address for a social visit, when she suddenly punched him in the face.

Later she went to his house, punched him again and kicked him and stamped on him with her shoes on.

She also hit him with an implement from a vacuum cleaner. He was covered in cuts and bruises.

The court was told that Mr Summers did not report the matter but police became involved when he went to the Princess Royal Hospital and staff there alerted them. He still had difficulty sleeping and had flashbacks, had become timid and scared to go out, the court heard.

Mr Rob Edwards for Spragg, who had several previous convictions, said his client remembered nothing about the incidents.

He said alcohol had been the root of all her offending. In the three years since the offences she had sought help from the STaRS Drug and Alcohol Support team in Telford and realised it was something she desperately needed.

"For someone with such a dire addiction to alcohol to come off it completely could have proved a medical risk," Mr Edwards said.

"But with help she has reduced her intake week on week and learnt ways to deal with trigger points in her life where she would normally turn to the bottle."

Judge Barrie said Spragg had committed nasty assaults on Mr Summers.

"You may have been under the influence of alcohol but you were still able to manipulate him to let you into his house and made a sustained attack on him," he said.

"You will now have to prove that you can totally abstain from all alcohol."