A HOMELESS woman used a metal broom to attack her abusive boyfriend in a Swindon multi-storey car park.

Claire Browner admitted assault occasioning actual bodily harm, but said it was her then partner who had initiated hostilities when he pushed and then allegedly spat at her.

The 30-year-old, who has battled an addiction to heroin, was sentenced to a 12-month community order and banned from the Fleming Way car park by a Swindon judge.

Swindon Crown Court heard homeless Browner had been in a relationship with her victim for around five years.

At the time of the assault on November 5 the pair were living in the Debenhams car park.

Browner returned to their camp in the early hours. She tried to rouse her boyfriend by shouting at him and poking him with a broom.

Others in the car park watched the drama unfold and were laughing, but Browner’s actions irritated her partner.

He got up and pushed her in an effort to make the abuse stop. She claimed he then spat at her.

Browner’s reaction to that was labelled excessive by Judge Jason Taylor QC. She swung the broom, hitting him on the top of the head. The attack left the victim bruised, with the injury having to be glued.

Browner, of Victoria Road, Old Town, pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

Ray Tully, defending, said his client had a long-running heroin addiction: “It’s a sobering thought for all of us that but for a few steps from where we are there is an entirely different world that exists – a world my lay client occupied.”

The argument with her ex had started when she returned back to their camp with food and drink.

She accepted she used the brush to assault the man. But it was used in circumstances where she had attempted to defend herself, Mr Tully added.

Claire Hyde, for the probation service, said Browner’s relationship with her ex had been volatile and abusive: “It got to the point where she couldn’t take it anymore and reacted.” She was now staying with her brother and felt much better.

She was sentenced to a 12-month community order, with a requirement to complete up to 25 rehabilitation activity days under the direction of the probation service and was banned from going into the Fleming Way car park.

Judge Taylor said: “I accept this was against the backdrop of a volatile and difficult relationship.”