Holyhead woman jailed for six months for deliberately coughing on police officer whilst claiming to have COVID-19

A Holyhead woman has been jailed for six months for deliberately coughing on a police officer whilst claiming to have the coronavirus.

Kelsey Gouldie, aged 19, appeared in court today where she pleaded guilty to assault, breach of COVID-19 regulations and attacking an emergency worker while in custody in Caernarfon.

Inspector Neil Jones said: “Far too frequently, officers are the subject of assaults in the custody suite, where those who have been arrested think it is acceptable to behave in a dangerous and violent manner.

“With the added worries surrounding the Covid pandemic, this will not be tolerated and we will continue to put such individuals before the court to be dealt with appropriately.”

North Wales Police Federation General Secretary Mark Jones said: “This is yet another example of where our members have had COVID-19 weaponised towards them.

“To deliberately cough at a police officer, or any other emergency worker for that matter, and then claim to have COVID is, quite frankly filthy and despicable.

“I am glad to see that a custodial sentence has been imposed although we are continuing to see a growing trend of these types of incidents so clearly the message isn’t getting through – so we implore the government and judiciary to work on introducing sentences that actually act as a deterrent to would be offenders.”