ANGER boiled over at an illegal lockdown house party where a woman hit a police officer over the head with a heavy toilet roll holder.

Officers found blaring noise and drunk partygoers when they arrived at the flats in Eastbourne in April.

But when they tried to break it up things turned violent and one woman told an officer: “I have got corona, watch out.”

The struggle spilled out into a hallway, where one officer doubled over in pain after being struck by a metal and stone toilet roll holder.

Two 21-year-old women pleaded guilty to assaulting police at the party and appeared at Lewes Crown Court for sentencing.

Millie Robinson and Bayleigh Meadows, both from Eastbourne, were criticised by the judge for committing the offences while the rest of the country was obeying lockdown.

Prosecutor Ryan Richter said when the two police officers tried to break up the party on April 8, they were met with a “barrage of abuse”. He said they were told by occupants that they “had a right to be at each other’s flats”.

At one point, Robinson turned to one of the officers and pursed her lips as if she was going to spit at him, saying “I have got corona, watch out”, the court heard.

As the commotion spilled into a hallway, Robinson ended up on the floor. She kicked out, catching an officer in the stab vest and leg.

Meadows picked up the toilet roll holder and launched it at one officer, striking him in the head, the court heard.

He was left with a huge lump and a 2cm cut which had to be glued back together, the court was told. In a statement read out in court, he described the struggle as a “fast and surreal moment”.

Rebecca Upton, defending Robinson, said she had found lockdown “extremely hard” and felt “extremely isolated”, leading to a decline in her mental health. She said: “Unfortunately, she took it upon herself to try and feel better by consuming a large quantity of alcohol.”

She said Robinson showed immediate remorse and asked that she be given a suspended sentence.

Adam James, defending Meadows, argued the congregation was “not a party but a gathering”. He said Meadows has underlying mental health issues.

Sentencing the pair, Judge Christine Laing QC noted a history of violence against police and that they had “declined much of the opportunities of help”.

She said: “Police officers on a daily basis have to face risks to protect the public, perhaps never more so than during a pandemic. They should not have to deal with behaviour like that which we saw ever.”

Robinson, of Edgeland Terrace, pleaded guilty at a previous hearing to two charges of assaulting an emergency worker. She was jailed for six months.

Meadows, of Lottbridge Drive, pleaded guilty at a previous hearing to assault occasioning actual harm. She was jailed for a year.