A mum has been spared prison after pinching a serving police officer's bum in a crowded town centre.

Magistrates heard Rosie Smith groped the officer by the Millennium Clock in Tunbridge Wells while with her partner in June.

At a trial today Neil Sweeney, prosecuting, said: "Miss Smith reached out and pinched his bottom, causing him to react.

"He turned around to see her stood next to him. The officer warned her about the behaviour, saying 'that's assault, I could nick you for that,' and they engaged in a conversation about her brother who died last year."

Mr Sweeney said the area where the sexual assault took place was "busy and surrounded by cafes with people waiting outside."

The officer was called away from the scene but one onlooker complained to police, saying they found the behaviour shocking and demeaning.

As causing shock, alarm or distress to a member of the public is a criminal offence, the complaint triggered the terms of a community order Smith was serving for an unrelated matter.

The officer said he was annoyed and embarrassed by the 41-year-old's actions.

Maidstone Magistrates' Court heard Smith, who is responsible for four children, has since apologised to him.

Ben Pite, defending, said his client was dealing with "difficult family circumstances" as a mother of three children and the legal guardian of a fourth.

He added: "The officer has known my client for a considerable time. It was an impulsive act and she did launch immediately into talking about her brother.

"She has apologised to the officer herself and he said about how it made him feel."

"The officer warned her about the behaviour, saying 'that's assault, I could nick you for that..." Neil Sweeney

Smith, of Sherwood Road, Tunbridge Wells, pleaded guilty to sexual assault and one count of breaching a criminal behaviour order.

As she was serving a suspended prison sentence when she committed the offence, Smith faced being sent to prison.

Chairman of the bench Dennis Fuller said: "These are quite serious matters, in the circumstances they're all at the lowest level in our judgment.

"We're not applying for compensation as there was no physical injury and the policeman's response at the time does not appear to warrant it."

Telling Smith they would not send her to prison, Mr Fuller suspended her suspended sentence by a further six months.

She was handed a 12-month community order, will have to carry out 20 rehabilitation activity requirement days in that period and must pay £175 in costs.

Read more: All the latest news from Tunbridge Wells