Woman Smashes Plate in Tea Room After Being Told Her Court Case Won't Go Ahead

NOTORIOUS Ely drunk Audrey Harris threw a tantrum at a tearoom after she was turned away from the court because police had given her the wrong date for her case.

Harris was so angry that police had told her to turn up on Tuesday, not Thursday, that she headed straight to Two for Tea on the corner of Market Place, abused its proprietor and smashed a plate, she admitted to magistrates.

Mrs Harris, 59, who has acknowledged she has an alcohol problem, was told to turn up at Ely magistrates' court on Tuesday of last week - but due to court cost-cutting, Crown Prosecution Service cases are now only heard on a Thursday and there was nobody there to prosecute her for drunk and disorderly.

Police had arrested Harris in an earlier incident at Ely Market Place - not far from her home in Lantern Court - on September 3.

She was stumbling around and grabbed hold of her husband, started swearing at him and calling him a slut, magistrates heard. She then swore at paramedics and police.

Defending herself, Harris said: "I was recently offered a temporary office administrator job in Newmarket that started on Tuesday and I couldn't go - I was so angry. My best friend in South Africa died, my sister started stirring up all these things from the past that were quite unreasonable - I was quite stressed. My husband was on leave for two weeks and we were sniping at each other - we are in debt up to our eyeballs."

Harris has now been charged for the plate-smashing and verbal abuse and the case will be heard at a later date.

After pleading guilty to drunk and disorderly, she was given a £100 fine, ordered to pay £70 costs and a £15 victim surcharge.

Harris is no stranger to Ely magistrates' court - she already has a string of convictions for drunk and disorderly - the most recent only three weeks ago.