TWELVE months' community service - this is the price a 42-year-old woman is paying for hitting a police officer.

Nicki Larkins was sentenced at Dartford Magistrates’ Court today (August 5) after pleading guilty to assaulting a PC.

Gareth Nichols, prosecuting, told the court Larkins “lashed out with her left arm and struck the officer on the left side of the face” in Dartford town centre at around 1.50am on April 20.

The officer, who had arrested Larkins on suspicion of being drunk and disorderly, was not injured.

Larkins, of Saddlers Park, Dartford, was ordered to undergo an alcohol abuse rehabilitation programme.

She was also told to pay £50 compensation to the officer and £60 costs.

The magistrates decided to give her no separate penalty on two further charges, possessing a Class A drug and being drunk and disorderly, which she also admitted.