The number of women convicted of attacking a police officer but walking free from court with a fine has doubled in ten years.

Figures from the Ministry of Justice show more than 1,000 women were handed a fine in 2018, compared with 512 a decade earlier.

Often the punishment meted out to yobs who punched, bit or spat at an officer was less severe than those handed down for not having a TV licence – an average fine of £146 for an assault conviction compared with £175 for those hauled to court for not paying their licence fee.

Figures from the Ministry of Justice have shown that more than 1,000 women were handed a fine in 2018, compared with 512 a decade earlier, after being convicted of attacking a police officer. (Stock image)

Over the same ten-year period, the number of women jailed immediately after being convicted of assaulting an officer tumbled from 224 to 159 last year – a drop of almost 30 per cent – while the average prison term has fallen from ten weeks to eight.

In total, 3,063 women were convicted of attacking police officers last year – almost 60 every week.

Many received community sentences or other non-custodial penalties.

Critics said that despite the Government recently doubling the maximum prison sentence for assaulting emergency workers on duty from six to 12 months, more needed to be done to stamp out the problem.

Ten pints- then she bit a policeman Phoebe Park (pictured), 25, from Westhoughton, Bolton, bit a policeman and attack two bouncers on November 17 A woman who knocked back ten pints of lager and vodka shots before attacking two bouncers and biting a policeman has been ordered to pay them compensation at a rate of just £5 a week. Phoebe Park, 25, is thought to have racked up a £60 bar bill after splitting up with her boyfriend. After staff threw her out, she attacked two doorman at a nearby pub. Police called to the incident on November 17 in Bolton, near Manchester, arrested unemployed Park, but she slipped out of the handcuffs and bit an officer on the arm. At Bolton Magistrates' Court, Park, from Westhoughton, Bolton, admitted assault and was ordered to pay total damages of £400 – including £50 to the police officer – but was given almost two years to pay due to her 'limited means'. Advertisement

David Spencer, research director at the Centre For Crime Prevention think-tank, said: 'It is an utter disgrace that assaulting a police officer is now less severe than not having a TV licence, in the eyes of some courts.

The gender of the assailant is irrelevant in crimes of this nature.

Assault is assault and the law should protect those police officers who put their own safety on the line to keep our communities safe.

'The Home Secretary should increase the minimum sentences to make it clear to men and women that if you are convicted of assaulting a police officer you are going to spend time in jail.'

The number of men convicted of assaulting a police officer fell from 15,687 in 2008 to 12,071 last year, with those receiving fines rising from 3,409 to 4,798. Men given an immediate custodial sentence plunged from 1,778 to 1,202.

A senior police officer said: 'Times have changed in recent years.

In the past, women would often be a sensible, restraining influence on men who had too much to drink.

'But now, go to a town centre at turning out time and it is often the women who are shouting the most abuse at one another, getting into fights and behaving in a generally unsavoury manner.

'I'm not sure if we should be surprised.'

Earlier this month, Home Secretary Priti Patel said thugs who attack police, firefighters, NHS staff and prison officers on duty would be jailed for longer under a new crackdown.

She is considering doubling the maximum sentence again from one to two years if the Conservatives win the election.

The aim is to tackle the rising tide of attacks on emergency workers in recent years.

Miss Patel said she is determined to go further to send out a message that the attacks will not be tolerated.