A female police officer punched in the face while apprehending a suspect has condemned a £50 compensation pay out as a crime tsar declares it a “sickening insult”.

PC Hayley Hunter, 33, and a male colleague were both hit in the face after a drunk man assaulted her after he was thrown out of a pub late at night in Bedford.

The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, admitted two counts of assault by beating an emergency worker. He was fined £120 and ordered to pay Ms Hunter £50 and the male officer, who suffered a cut, £75 after appearing at Luton Magistrates Court.

But Ms Hunter, the mother of a five-year-old girl, said she would probably never receive the money, in part because the offender is currently on remand in connection with a more serious offence.

“I’m certainly not holding my breath for payment,” Ms Hunter, who has served as an officer for 10 years, said. “It’s unlikely I will receive any money. Fifty pounds is not really acceptable, it could pay for a tank of petrol. But, can you put a price on being punched?

“I had to go home and when my daughter asked why my face was sore I had to tell that a bad man had hit her mummy.”