A SHOPLIFTER bit a policeman's arm as she tried to defy him while under arrest, York magistrates heard.

Steven Ovenden, prosecuting, said Kathleen Theresa Ward, 35, tried to light a cigarette in the back of a police van after she was arrested for theft.

But Sgt Nigel Tottie had already told her not to and when he stopped her, she bit his arm.

Ward, of Robinson Court, Walmgate, York, denied assaulting a policeman, but magistrates convicted her at a trial last month.

When she returned to court for sentence, her solicitor, Lee Goodchild,

said Ward, had had a difficult upbringing, and had made significant steps towards going straight.

Magistrates deferred sentence for four months to see if she could lead a law-abiding life.

Updated: 11:57 Saturday, June 14, 2003