'Kettled' model hit policewoman in flurry of fists

A model who assaulted a policewoman in "a flurry of fists" as she tried to force her way out of a police kettle at a student protest was fined £250.

Mackayla Forde, who is four months pregnant, lunged at the Met sergeant while trying to reach her boyfriend on the other side of the cordon during the demonstration last November.

She took part in the protest - wearing a hoodie and balaclava - to show "solidarity" with tuition fee activists, Westminster magistrates were told.

Forde, 26, was spared jail by District Judge Elizabeth Roscoe after being found guilty of assaulting a police officer.

But the judge said the Met had encountered "serious difficulties keeping order" as the demonstration des- cended into violence.

"When the police are trying to keep order, they are not helped by behaviour of this nature," she said.

The court heard that the model, who also works as a chef, had been penned in after officers encircled the crowd in Trafalgar Square at about 7pm.

Sgt Joanne O'Connor, who was award- ed £30 compensation, told the trial that Forde, of Greenwich, was "up against the officers, banging into them".

Sgt Connor said: "It was almost as if she was trying to push through the police line. She seemed quite intent on getting to what was going on behind the police lines.

"The best way to describe the situation was a flurry of fists and people, and she was part of it."

Eliza Pollard, defending, said Forde, who has no previous convictions, attended the protest "with a perfectly legitimate aim".

She said: "She was caught in a kettle and was trying to communicate with her partner on the other side of the police line. It is that which led to her approaching the officers."

Forde must also pay £500 costs and a £15 victim surcharge. The fines will be in instalments of £50 a month.