Judge Defers Sentence After Woman Spat at Pharmacist

A woman has been spared an immediate custodial sentence after a District Judge at York Magistrates' Court deferred her sentence for assault.

Carla Louise Graham, 43, used to collect her methadone from Boots in York city centre, but staff made alternative collection arrangements after she behaved badly in the store.

Jane Chadwick, prosecuting, told District Judge Adrian Lower that despite these alternative arrangements being in place Graham attended the store in an effort to obtain the heroin-substitute on 2nd May 2019. The pharmacist on duty declined to serve Graham, who promptly spat in her face.

Graham, of the Changing Lives hostel in Walmgate, York, admitted one charge of assault.

Keith Whitehouse, mitigating, said: "She felt she was being ordered about a little bit like an animal rather than like a human being.

"It is not an excuse at all, she felt that was the catalyst (for the assault)."

Judge Lower took the unusual decision to defer sentence after hearing that Graham was engaging well with the probation service and working hard with the Changing Lives rehabilitation agency.

The judge told Graham that he would spare her a custodial sentence if she continued to engage positively with these agencies for the next 3 months.

"If this is just a flash in the pan or more importantly you go on to commit offences, I'm afraid you are going to go to prison," he warned her.

Section 1 of the Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000 allows the court to defer a sentence for up to six months, during which time it may impose requirements on the offender.

The purpose of deferment is to enable the court to have regard to the offender's conduct after conviction or any change in his or her circumstances, including the extent to which the offender has complied with any requirements imposed by the court.

The judge in this case is clearly of the belief that Graham's continued engagement with probation and support agencies gives the best chance of a positive outcome.

Sending her to prison now would be a retrograde step. It would only serve to hone her criminal tendencies and fuel her drug abuse.