FORDE:MODEL ASSAULTED FEMALE COP AS STUDENT PROTEST ERUPTED

A pregnant model assaulted a female police officer as a student protest exploded into violence, a court heard today (Thurs).

Mackayla Forde lunged at Sgt Joanne O’Connor as a kettle in Trafalgar Square became ‘a flurry of fists and people’, it was said.

The 26-year-old donned a hoodie and balaclava to take part in the demonstrations against tuition fee hikes last November 30, City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard.

Forde was caught up in a police cordon near The Strand at around 7pm and was trying to communicate with a friend outside the kettle, said prosecutor Carol Summers.

‘She was verbally aggressive towards the police and coming towards the police line in a manner which she shouldn’t have been doing,’ she told the court.

‘Sgt O’Connor pushed her away and it was then that the defendant pushed her with both hands in the chest and hit her over the shoulder.’

Giving evidence, Sgt O’Connor said: ‘She was up against the officers, banging into them, and I asked her to move away.

‘It was almost as if she was trying to push through the police line.

‘She was asked to move away and I think “F*ck off” was her reply.

‘After a few minutes she pushed me in the chest and shoulder.

‘She seemed quite intent on getting to what was going on behind the police lines.’

She added: ‘The best way to describe the situation was a flurry of fists and people, and she was part of it.’

The altercation was witnessed by Inspector Brian Casson who dragged Forde out of the kettle, after which she was arrested by other officers, the court was told.

The model, who was more than an hour late for today’s hearing, giggled in the dock and smirked at her supporters in the public gallery during the police evidence.

Eliza Pollard, for Forde, denied the assault had taken place and said it was her client who had been pushed by police.

She told Sgt O’Connor: ‘I’m going to suggest to you that she never intentionally pushed you at all.

‘Clearly you had pushed her first and she was verbally remonstrating with you.’

The officer replied: ‘No, she definitely pushed me twice, to the chest and shoulder.’

Forde, of Welland Street, Greenwich, se London, who is three-and-a-half months pregnant, denies assaulting a police officer.

The hearing continues.

mfl

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