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A policewoman who cut her thumb while cleaning up a cannabis factory sued her own force for nearly £5,000.

WPC Kerry Ann Taylor was feeling groggy from the plants' fumes when she put her hand through a window she was trying to open to let in some fresh air.

She won £4,837 by successfully arguing that Hampshire Police breached its duty as an employer by exposing her to fumes and failing to provide thick gloves.

But in another huge waste of public cash, the force - headed by Chief Constable Andy Marsh - ran up £145,000 in legal costs taking her to London’s Court of Appeal this week in a battle to ­overturn the ruling.

WPC Taylor’s lawyer Andrew Roy, urged the court to uphold the 2008 verdict because the flat-turned-drug factory in Southsea, Hants, was “dangerous premises” with a foreseeable risk of injury.

He told the appeal judges: “The only protective equipment provided was thin latex gloves. There was limited ventilation and her case, accepted by the judge, was she was suffering the effects of inhaling ­cannabis fumes.

“There was cannabis drying out and the place was a nest of wires.”

“All these risks were magnified given there was little ventilation and a nauseating atmosphere hazardous to health. After around 20 minutes she went to open a window. As she did so, her hand slipped and through a glass pane. She suffered a significant laceration to her right thumb.”

Geoffrey Weddell, for the police force, told the judges: “WPC Taylor had simply not been ­allocated any task that required the provision of thick gloves. It is absurd to suggest the Chief Constable ought to have provided such gloves.”

And Lord Justice Elias commented: “She was pulling out cannabis plants. There were no sharp edges involved at that time. There is no obligation on the Chief Constable (to provide thick gloves) at that point.” Mr Roy argued that Hampshire Police’s own guidance at the time said officers entering cannabis factories should in fact be ­provided with body armour.

But Judge Elias responded: “You don’t need body armour for going in to clean up a cannabis factory.”

Judge David Blunt QC made the original ruling against then Chief Constable Alex Marshall at ­Winchester Crown Court in 2008.

After an expensive day-long hearing on Thursday, the court reserved judgement until a later date in the case of WPC Taylor, 34, who is still with Hants Police.

The appeal follows a public outcry in the case of WPC Kelly Jones, who tried to sue a burglary victim after tripping on a kerb at his garage. That case has been dropped, but she is also suing Norfolk ­Police after her panda car was involved in a crash.