POLICE called to the riverside in Ely just before midnight found drunken ASBO mum Susan Statham splashing around in the water. Statham s friends pulled her out of the river, and she was abusive to officers, shouting and swearing. Twenty-one-year-old Sta

POLICE called to the riverside in Ely just before midnight found drunken ASBO mum Susan Statham splashing around in the water.

Statham's friends pulled her out of the river, and she was abusive to officers, shouting and swearing.

Twenty-one-year-old Statham was asked to leave the area, but she continued to be abusive, Ely magistrates were told on Thursday.

Statham, of New Barns Avenue, Ely, admitted that the incident put her in breach of her ASBO, imposed in April.

Solicitor Jacqui Baldwin said Statham agreed she had caused a nuisance during the incident on August 1, but did not cause harassment, alarm or distress.

The court was told that Statham lives with her mother and two-year-old daughter, and already owes £260 in court fines.

Last month, Statham was given a four-month suspended jail sentence, and is about to start a "Think First" course with the probation service.

She was fined £100 for breaching her ASBO, and must pay £95 costs and a £15 surcharge.

"Had these offences occurred after the suspended sentence was imposed, we would have had no option but to activate the sentence, and that would have meant you going into prison today," said presiding magistrate Bryant Watson.