A heroin addict threw a cup of bloodied spit into a policeman’s face and threatened shop workers with a syringe - while claiming she had HIV.

Melissa Goldstone, 35, also burgled a bank card from an elderly couple with dementia to go on a spending spree.

Recorder Eleanor Laws QC dubbed Goldstone “erratic and chaotic” at Canterbury Crown Court and jailed her for 30 months.

Goldstone brandished the needle twice claiming she had the virus when door staff confronted her for shoplifting in Deal in early January, the court heard.

On bail, she then stole the Alzheimer sufferers’ bank card from their home in Telegraph Road on January 15 after engaging them in conversation.

When their carer arrived Goldstone posed as a family member and fled the scene.

Goldstone, of Colmanton Grove, Deal, used the card to buy Puma sportswear and booze and was later rearrested for shoplifting.

Under arrest, she spat blood and spit inside a plastic cup then “swiped” the content into the custody sergeant’s eyes, explained prosecutor Madeleine Wolfe.

The custody sergeant then had to be tested for hepatitis and HIV.

Judge Laws QC told Goldstone: “You took a hand bag that contained (the victim’s) bank card and used it in various shops in Deal.

“You used that card knowing the victims had dementia and use of that card would not have been detected as quickly as it usually would have been.”

She dubbed the threats against shop workers “truly unpleasant”.

Goldstone, who wore a plain cross pendant necklace and headband in court, had been remanded in custody since February 9 and placed on a methadone prescription.

Her barrister argued she could continue detoxifying at her mother’s Folkestone home if a suspended sentence was granted.

However Judge Laws QC deemed Goldstone, who could be seen biting her nails in the dock during Thursday’s hearing, a “public risk”.

Goldstone became visibly upset as she was led away from the dock.

She pleaded guilty to five counts of shoplifting, five counts of fraud by false representation, burglary, and assaulting a police officer at previous hearings.

To read more of our in depth coverage of all of the major trials coming out of crown and magistrates' courts across the county, click here.

For information on how we can report on court proceedings, click here.