JAILED: Mother sent down for needle stab attack on shop assistant

Kay McGregor – who has more than 50 previous convictions for dishonesty and obstructing a police officer – was in a store in Wolverhampton when a worker recognised her partner as a known shoplifter.

The staff member watched as he filled his pockets with items and 31-year-old McGregor, of Raby Street, All Saints, acted as a lookout.

The shop assistant then chased McGregor's boyfriend into the car park and he was apprehended by a police officer who happened to be in the same place at the same time.

Mr Paul Farrow, prosecuting at Wolverhampton Crown Court, said: "The defendant was encouraging the male to bite the officer and infect him with Hepatitis C.

"The shop assistant then felt like he was being stabbed below his left shoulder and saw a syringe. He struck out at the defendant to get her away and she tried to interfere with another worker who had come to assist.

"McGregor then threw the syringe on the concrete floor saying her brothers and fathers would kill him if he didn't leave England."

The incident happened at 9.20pm on May 12. The court heard how the shop assistant did not go to hospital for a puncture wound to his shoulder as he was 'too busy' and also failed to submit a victim impact statement for the case.

Mr Paul Hiatt, mitigating, said McGregor pleaded guilty to assault with intent at an earlier hearing and accepted the prosecution's version of events.

"She apologises for her actions and says at the time she was taking a cocktail of drugs – heroin and crack cocaine," he said. "She was going through a difficult period, the father of her two children aged 11 and 14 had recently died."

During sentencing, Judge Stephen Eyre QC said McGregor had stabbed a publicly–minded individual in an act of 'unprovoked aggression'.

"Purely by chance no more serious injury was caused," he said. Judge Eyre sentenced McGregor to 10 weeks in prison, 12 months supervision from the date of her release and £900 court costs.