A woman who beat up a disabled man in the street was branded a bully by the judge who jailed her.

Chantelle Hayward, 28, struck out with her fists after spotting her victim and his brother in Manchester Road on May 28 this year.

Jailing her for more than a year at Swindon Crown Court yesterday, Judge Jason Taylor QC said: “I’m disappointed by your lack of empathy.”

The court heard the sex worker claimed they owed her money for a Facebook “live show”, although this was disputed by the Crown.

She slapped and kicked her victim, who suffers from brittle bones and was riding a child’s scooter, causing him to fall to the ground.

Hayward grabbed his jacket as he fell, taking it along with a bank card in the garment’s pocket.

In a victim statement, the man said his confidence had been knocked by the attack.

Hayward, appearing before the court from Eastwood Park prison but formerly of Gerard Walk, Grange Park, admitted assault causing actual bodily harm and theft.

She had what the judge described as an appalling record, with 31 convictions for 50 offences. At the time of the theft she was on post-sentence supervision after being given a 12 week prison term at the start of the year.

Defending, Tony Bignall, said she had been addicted to drugs since the age of 14. She had been abused by a number of men, including one who had stabbed her.

He said: “She said she’d been screaming out for a refuge and is still waiting for an appointment with a psychiatrist. What she’s intending to do is put her past behind her and she found it very difficult when I was going through factors of her past to accept they were relevant criteria for your honour because she says ‘that’s all in the past I want to put all that behind me’.”

He said Hayward told him Covid had put her right off jail. He asked the judge to consider deferring or suspending any prison sentence.

But Judge Taylor said deferring sentence would set her up to fail, as she did not have accommodation and had been deemed unsuitable for substance rehabilitation courses.

Jailing her for 13 months, he said: “This was a particularly mean offence. Your victim is classed as a disabled person. Having viewed the CCTV footage he is of extremely short stature.

“He was on a scooter at the time of the incident. It is important to note that is not a mobility scooter.

“I am informed he suffers from brittle bones. He was obviously vulnerable and that must have been evident to you.”

He acknowledged her explanation for why she had confronted the men, but added: “Whatever the reasons it doesn’t justify or excuse the attack. That night you were a bully and you sought in the pre-sentence report to minimise what you did or present alternative facts.

“But even making allowances for differing approaches and your consumption of a bottle of wine, I’m disappointed by your lack of empathy and the absence or insight into how aggressive you were that night and have been in the past.”