AN out-of-control Workington teenager who had hurled a drinking glass at her mother and smashed a window went on to attack a police officer, spitting at her face.

Ellie Robertson, 19, admitted four offences when she appeared before a Carlisle Crown Court judge.

But Judge Nicholas Barker drew back from immediately jailing her, saying he wanted to give the teenager a chance to find a settled home and rehabilitate.

The defendant, formerly of Grasmere Avenue, Workington, admitted assaulting a police officer, criminal damage, possessing a knife in public, and an actual bodily harm assault on her mum Kerry Fulton.

Prosecutor Gerard Rogerson outlined how the trouble flared up on the evening of April 4 during a family gathering.

Robertson began swearing and screaming, and throwing glasses around the kitchen. At 8.45pm, despite attempts to calm her down, Robertson picked up a glass and threw it towards her mother’s face. The glass smashed, leaving a cut beneath Ms Fulton’s left eye.

Robertson was persuaded to leave but returned, grabbing a knife from a drawer, and taking it outside. She later tossed it into a neighbour’s garden. Robertson then hurled a scooter through the house window. Her mother helped restrain her.

As they police tried to arrest the teenager, she struggled, twice spitting at one officer. Mr Rogerson said of the officer: “She’s worried about the impact it might have on her life due to the possibility of contracting the virus.”

The teenager in 2018 committed offences which were virtually a “carbon copy “ of what happened in April.

“There was a full loss of control by Miss Robertson, an assault on a police officer, she spat at a police officer, and there was violent behaviour in a police station.”

Marion Weir, for Robertson, accepted the offences were “reckless and dangerous”.

Judge Barker said the case concerned him, adding: “It seems to me Ellie Robertson is at something of a tipping point in her life.” Granting bail until she is sentenced on July 28, the judge said he would focus on rehabilitation