A woman assaulted two paramedics as they helped rescue her from her burning home on Christmas Eve.

Amy Winter, 40, was safely escorted from the burning building at around 3pm on December 24 while firefighters attended to the blaze in Brighton.

But when two paramedics tried to help her by giving her first aid, she repeatedly punched them and caused them injuries to their arms.

Winter was arrested and charged with two counts of assaulting an emergency worker, and appeared in Brighton Magistrates’ Court on Boxing Day.

She pleaded guilty to both charges and was sentenced to six months in prison for each offence, to run concurrently.

Superintendent Rachel Swinney, from Sussex Police, said: ‘I’m pleased to see that this individual has been sentenced by the court to a term of imprisonment for assaulting two paramedics who were there trying to help her.

‘All emergency services workers put their lives on the line to protect the public 365 days a year, assaults on any emergency services worker will not be tolerated.

‘The law is in place to protect them from harm and to deal with offenders appropriately, and we fully support our own police officers and our emergency service colleagues who continue to carry out brave and extraordinary work across Sussex.’

It comes after the Government changed the law in 2018 so anyone found guilty of assaulting a police officer, firefighter, prison officer or paramedic faced a maximum of 12 months in prison.

This applies under the Assaults on Emergency Workers Offences Act 2018.

Judges must also consider tougher sentences for more serious offences such as GBH or sexual assault if the victim was an emergency worker.

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