'Kill the Bill' rioter who spat at and attacked police jailed for nearly six years

Watch: Rioter jailed for five years and 10 months after spitting at police

A woman who spat at police and hit officers with a wooden stick has been jailed for five years and 10 months.

Francesca Horn, 25, was captured on CCTV and police body cameras kicking out at officers during a Kill the Bill protest in Bristol in March last year.

She was sentenced on Friday after being convicted of riot following a trial in April at Bristol Crown Court.

Horn, of Montpelier in Bristol, struck officers with a wooden stick, kicked their shields and spat at them in a riot outside Bridewell Police Station on 21 March, 2021.

She had admitted a charge of violent disorder but denied riot.

Francesca Horn seen on the night on the Kill the Bill riots. See SWNS story SWBRriot. A woman who spat at and hit police officers with a wooden stick during the Kill the Bill protest in Bristol has been jailed for nearly six years. Francesca Horn, of Montpelier, admitted a charge of violent disorder but denied riot. Following a trial at Bristol Crown Court in April, the 25-year-old was found guilty. During the trial, digital evidence including footage from officers’ body-worn cameras, CCTV and mobile phone footage was played to the jury. — Francesca Horn pictured on the night of rioting in Bristol in March last year. (SWNS) (Avon and Somerset Police / SWNS)

Francesca Horn seen on the night on the Kill the Bill riots. See SWNS story SWBRriot. A woman who spat at and hit police officers with a wooden stick during the Kill the Bill protest in Bristol has been jailed for nearly six years. Francesca Horn, of Montpelier, admitted a charge of violent disorder but denied riot. Following a trial at Bristol Crown Court in April, the 25-year-old was found guilty. During the trial, digital evidence including footage from officers’ body-worn cameras, CCTV and mobile phone footage was played to the jury. — Francesca Horn was caught on camera spitting at police officers during the riot. (SWNS) (Avon and Somerset Police / SWNS)

Francesca Horn was jailed for five years and 10 months for rioting in Bristol. (SWNS) — Francesca Horn was jailed for five years and 10 months for rioting in Bristol. (SWNS) (SWNS)

There were Kill the Bill protests nationwide against the introduction of the controversial Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022, which was given royal assent earlier this year.

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Footage gathered by police showed Horn taking hold of a police shield and using it to ram officers. Horn was also seen ripping off the wing mirror of a police van.

Judge James Patrick said her offending had a “devastating effect” and told her she was “clearly delighting in what you were doing”.

He said: “You spat at officers during a pandemic. You attacked police lines, kicking officers and rocked a police van.

Francesca Horn seen on the night on the Kill the Bill riots. See SWNS story SWBRriot. A woman who spat at and hit police officers with a wooden stick during the Kill the Bill protest in Bristol has been jailed for nearly six years. Francesca Horn, of Montpelier, admitted a charge of violent disorder but denied riot. Following a trial at Bristol Crown Court in April, the 25-year-old was found guilty. During the trial, digital evidence including footage from officers’ body-worn cameras, CCTV and mobile phone footage was played to the jury. — Francesca Horn was caught on CCTV attacking police officers. (SWNS) (Avon and Somerset Police / SWNS)

Francesca Horn seen on the night on the Kill the Bill riots. See SWNS story SWBRriot. A woman who spat at and hit police officers with a wooden stick during the Kill the Bill protest in Bristol has been jailed for nearly six years. Francesca Horn, of Montpelier, admitted a charge of violent disorder but denied riot. Following a trial at Bristol Crown Court in April, the 25-year-old was found guilty. During the trial, digital evidence including footage from officers’ body-worn cameras, CCTV and mobile phone footage was played to the jury. — Francesca Horn ripped off a police van's wing mirror during the riot in Bristol. (SWNS) (Avon and Somerset Police / SWNS)

"You used a number of weapons and you tore a wing mirror off a van and you threw two shields at officers.”

Senior Investigating Officer Supt James Riccio, from Avon and Somerset Police, said: “The prison sentence given by the court today reflects the gratuitous and corrosive offending Horn carried out on that night.

“She spat at officers, with one of them describing at the trial how she’d never been spat at before, and given the COVID-19 pandemic was ongoing, it left her feeling worried and upset. This is wholly unacceptable behaviour."

Police said a total of 18 people have now been jailed as part of their investigation into the riot, receiving a combined prison sentence of 71 years and three months.

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