A WOMAN who carried a pair of scissors in her handbag “for protection” and brandished them when joining a fracas outside a homeless hostel was jailed.

Keri Grattan threw them at Kieran George Sutton while he was embroiled in a confrontation with Kirk Joseph Edwards.

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In April, the defendant was handed a six-month prison sentence, suspended for 12 months, and ordered to complete a 10-day rehabilitation activity requirement.

But Grattan was jailed at Newport Crown Court by Judge Daniel Williams after she breached its terms and the Probation Service said the community part of her order was “unworkable”.

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He activated the sentence in full and so the defendant was jailed for six months.

Grattan had admitted the breach.

When her case was opened two months ago, Jenny Yeo, prosecuting, said a mêlée unfolded at the Solas Hostel in the Pill area of Newport last summer.

The incident was captured on CCTV cameras which she played at the city’s crown court.

Mrs Yeo told the court: “The defendant held the pair of scissors above her head before she threw them.

“She later told police she carried them in her handbag for self-defence and she said she wished they had hit him.”

Grattan, 37, formerly of Albert Street, Newport, pleaded guilty to possession of a blade or sharply pointed article in public on July 2, 2020.

The defendant had previous convictions for assaulting an emergency worker, criminal damage and non-dwelling burglary.

Claire Pickthall, representing Grattan, said her client had led a law-abiding life until she became homeless last year.

She told the court how the defendant was living in a tent and became “dependent on alcohol”.