A NEWPORT woman who bit a police officer on the knee while resisting being strip searched was jailed for 13 weeks at Newport Magistrates’ Court yesterday.

Mother-of-five Karen Bussey, 32, of Bassaleg Road, committed the assault on Boxing Day in Newport central police station.

When she was subsequently restrained and searched, officers found seven blue diazepam tablets on her person, also known as Valium.

Ruth Hale, prosecuting, said: “She was told she was going to be searched.

“She was escorted to the custody unit.

“It was explained she was to be strip searched. She refused to cooperate.”

When the drugs were eventually found, Bussey said she had bought them from a friend at a price of 30 for £10.

Craig Bond, defending, said his client reacted badly to being restrained as officers were gripping her wrists in a similar way to that used on her in the past, and that she had told officers this.

He said she had effectively been institutionalised for most of her life having been in care as a child and since then serving numerous prison sentences as well as living in supervised housing.

He said she moved systematically from place to place in England and Wales while in care and rarely stayed in the same place for long.

“Since March, this is the longest period of time she has had her liberty.”

He said Ms Bussey, a previous heroin addict, had now been clean for 12 to 13 months.

District Judge David Parsons said: “The offence is so serious that custody is the appropriate sentence.”

Bussey pleaded guilty to both offences but was given no separate penalty for the possession of diazepam.