A drunk student who was being attacked by a man punched police who went to her rescue.

Jazmine Apps, 22, was spotted by CCTV operators in Sittingbourne being assaulted and officers were sent to help her and arrest her attacker.

While officers apprehended the man, in the early hours of November 27 last year, Apps was put in the back of a police vehicle.

However, the 22-year-old of Forge Road, Sittingbourne, jumped out of the car and slapped an officer around the face and on the shoulder. As they were trying to restrain her, she also punched another officer twice on the chin.

She was charged with two counts of assault on an emergency worker and pleaded guilty to both offences when she appeared at Maidstone Magistrates' Court on January 3.

Debbie Jones, prosecuting, said: "She'd been seriously assaulted and the officers were trying to help her both became victims of crime.

"There was no lasting injury but the officer said their jaw was extremely painful."

The court heard Apps, who was studying to be a counsellor at Canterbury Christchurch University, had been drunk at the time and had reacted badly after becoming emotional.

Magistrates were told she had spent a night in the cells and was sorry and embarrassed by her behaviour.

The bench also heard Apps had never been in trouble with the law before and had made a one-off mistake and it was unlikely she would ever appear in court again.

Magistrates placed her on a 12-month community order which will see her carry out 80 hours of unpaid work.

She was also ordered to pay each officer £100 compensation and pay a victim surcharge of £114 and £85 costs.