Pregnant Debby Brear, 20, was told her assault on PC Emma Westwood, which included her headbutting and hitting the officer on the temple with a handcuff, could have ended in her death.

Brear, of Linton Road, Eastmoor, admitted assault occasioning actual bodily harm and being drunk and disorderly.

City magistrates heard PC Westwood arrested Brear on Westgate at 10pm on February 23 after she failed to heed repeated warnings about her behaviour.

PC Westwood got one handcuff on her wrist, but Brear deliberately swung her arm backwards and it hit the officer’s temple.

Other officers intervened and handcuffed Brear, but she managed to headbutt PC Westwood as she was being escorted away.

After the assault the officer twice lost consciousness and was repeatedly sick.

She suffered a swollen black eye and bruising.

PC Westwood, in a victim’s impact statement, said Brear was a danger to the public and police when drunk. She called for Brear to be dealt with appropriately to reduce the risk of her re-offending.

Mike Devlin, mitigating, said Brear had just discovered she was pregnant and had stopped drinking since the assault.

Wakefield magistrate Sue Richards yesterday sentenced Brear to two years of supervision, 100 hours of unpaid community work and a 12-week daily curfew from 9pm to 6am.

Brear was also given a two-year anti-social behaviour order barring her from entering city centre pubs and bars, engaging in threatening and disorderly behaviour and being drunk in public.

Mrs Richards, who made a £300 compensation award to the injured officer, said the community sentence was a direct alternative to custody.