Woman threw bleach after row with sixth-formers

A woman who threw bleach towards sixth-formers who played loud music outside her home has been sentenced.

Kathleen Jackson sprayed the fluid at a wall some of the students were sitting on after an argument about their behaviour escalated, Bradford Crown Court was told.

Judge Colin Burn said "fortunately" nobody was injured during the incident, which happened on School Close in Halifax on 12 January 2024, although a pair of leggings belonging to one of the students was damaged.

Jackson, 53, who had previously pleaded guilty to a single charge of affray, was given a 12-month community order and told to pay £25 in compensation.

Two alternative charges of throwing corrosive fluid with intent were dropped by the prosecution following the hearing.

The court was told Jackson had had persistent problems with students from the nearby school behaving noisily while congregating around a wall close to her house during lunch breaks.

On the day in question it was said a group were playing music loudly and "shouting and singing" along to it.

Prosecutor Heather Gilmore said that when Jackson, who had had no sleep the night before due to a health condition, went outside and asked the group to turn the music down, they responded by turning the volume up.

Jackson went back into the house and returned with bleach, which she "sprayed in the direction" of the group.

As the students retreated back in the direction of the school, mobile phone footage played to the court showed Jackson continuing to throw bleach in their direction.

After being arrested later the same day, it was said Jackson said she had suffered from "atrocious" noise outside her home for a long time and had complained to the school about the problem without success.

Officers described her as being "tearful" and "genuinely remorseful" about the incident and she offered to pay for the damage to one of the girls' clothing.

Mitigating for Jackson, Felicity Hemlin said there had been "significant provocation" and that she had been "driven" to taking the action she had.

The judge said that while the mobile phone footage showed Jackson being "goaded" by some of the group, others would "undoubtedly" have found her actions "threatening".

He added: "It is a classic case of two sides in a dispute who could not show any understanding of the other."

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