Hull Crown Court heard how she had been ‘given a chance’ at her last court appearance but she had repeatedly breached a suspended sentence
A woman has finally been jailed after throwing away repeated chances to avoid prison. Ann Bennett, 33, of Bridlington, denied breaching a one-year suspended prison sentence imposed on May 7 last year by failing to attend a probation appointment on May 19 this year. The breach was found proved.
Mother-of-five Ann Bennett previously hurled abuse at police and defiantly refused to come inside, leading worried officers to close nearby roads and call in negotiators and an ambulance. There were fears that she could easily slip, fall and cause herself serious injuries because the roof area was so small.
She had narrowly avoided prison last year for threatening to kill an ambulance crew member with a kitchen knife during another confrontation, Hull Crown Court heard. The suspended sentence was imposed for making threats to kill on March 23 last year and using threatening words or behaviour on March 20 last year.
She admitted later committing two new offences of affray on February 17 this year and was remanded in custody. Sentence on those matters was deferred on May 2, when she was released from prison and given a chance to turn her life around. She did not, however, fully comply with requirements to cooperate with the probation service.
She went to live in Rotherham, despite being told that this was not suitable. It was her third breach of the suspended sentence and her engagement with the probation service was “sporadic”.
Bennett told the court: “I don’t want to go back to jail.” Cathy Kioko-Gilligan, mitigating, said that Bennett had been given chances but she was asking for one last opportunity to comply. “She has moved away from the Bridlington area to get away from those who were negative influences on her,” said Miss Kioko-Gilligan.
“She has made changes. I have to concede that she has been given a number of opportunities.” Bennett had five children aged between 13 and six.
Judge Mark Bury said: “I gave her a chance on the last occasion and she hasn’t taken it.” He told Bennett: “You have breached the order again.
“When a court makes an order of a suspended sentence, it expects you to comply with it and, if you don’t, the suspended sentence will be activated. That’s the whole purpose of it. There is no alternative but for you to serve a prison sentence.
“Alternatives have been tried. You are kicking everybody in the face by refusing to take any responsibility for your situation.” Bennett, who was on bail, was jailed for 18 months.
Stephen Welch, prosecuting, told an earlier hearing that Bennett assaulted a man in The Lounge pub in Bridlington by kicking him in the chest and punching him in the face. The man did not retaliate but Bennett stopped only when members of the public restrained her and stopped her from assaulting him.
Bennett was identified from CCTV pictures. She went to her home and police later went there to arrest her but she grabbed a knife from a kitchen drawer and climbed out of a window onto the roof of the flat.
She pointed it towards two police officers and told one of them that, if he came any closer, she would throw the knife at him. The incident, at about 11pm, led to a stand-off lasting at least three-and-a-half hours.
It involved 12 police officers, three negotiators and an ambulance. Nearby roads were closed as a safety precaution to protect the public. “It’s quite a small roof and there was concern that she would fall off the roof and cause herself serious injury,” said Mr Welch.
During the confrontation, police told Bennett: “We don’t want you to trip” and “Come in here to talk to us” but she laughed and swore at police and told them: “I don’t want to talk to you.”
Bennett’s previous convictions included assault causing actual bodily harm and racially aggravated harassment in February 2016, two offences of assault in July 2018, sending a malicious letter in December 2022 and assault, criminal damage and threatening behaviour in March 2023.
Sentence had been deferred on May 2 for six months so that Bennett could prove that she could stay out of trouble. She was released from custody to return to Bridlington.
A previous hearing was told that the earlier offences happened after an ambulance crew was called out to an incident in Bridlington in the early hours. They found Bennett inside a house. She became angry and started making threats.
She showed the paramedics a drawer containing kitchen knives and the crew believed that she was going to move towards them and that she might grab one of the knives. She was detained but she started screaming, shouting and making threats. Police back-up was requested.
Bennett later told police during interview that, on that day, she had drunk three glasses of whisky and had smoked one joint of cannabis. She admitted saying “I’ll cut off your fingers” but she denied reaching for a large knife.
During an incident on March 20 last year, Bennett was on the scene of a disturbance in Bridlington involving a man and others and, during it, she shouted: “Watch me get you stabbed. Watch me get someone to go through your house. Watch me get someone to bomb your house.”
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