An Aston Villa fan told a judge to ‘kiss my a**’ before mooning him in the dock as she was jailed for attacking a supporter of a rival club.
Rebecca Harris, 35, had been drinking when she called Michael Keeling a ‘Zulu’ and slashed his cheek at The Gables Hotel in Solihull.
On February 7 last year, she had been staying at the hotel, which was being used as emergency accommodation by the council.
Mr Keeling had moved into the hotel recently and had not met Harris when he walked out of his room early that morning, hoping to find reception and ask about the mysterious knocking he had heard on his door.
While searching for the front desk, he inadvertently knocked on Harris’s door, where he was invited in and given something to eat.
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But the friendly situation quickly turned sour when Mr Keeling mentioned he was a supporter of Birmingham City FC, known rivals of Aston Villa.
Harris began insulting Mr Keeling, calling him a ‘tramp’ and then grabbing a knife from the kitchen and saying: ‘You Zulus think you are all that, I will chop you up,’ before slashing his face, hands and trousers.
‘Zulus’ are a nickname for fans of Birmingham City FC, a reference to the hooligan ‘firm’ known as the Zulu Warriors.
Police arrived, and Harrison claimed she had acted in self-defence, but a jury ultimately rejected her account.
Mr Keeling suffered scarring and described having sleepless nights as a result of the unprovoked attack.
In court last week, Harris, who has been diagnosed with a personality disorder, lost her temper as Recorder Paul Stagg sentenced her.
She began yelling: ‘bulls***, f*** off, chat s***’ before standing up and exposing her backside, adding: “Kiss my a***.”
Harris continued saying ‘kiss my white ass’ and repeated ‘suck your mum’ as a dock officer led her away.
Harris was ultimately jailed for eight years and two months, having been found guilty of wounding with intent.
She had admitted multiple offences of assaulting emergency workers and racially aggravated harassment.
Her brush up with Mr Keeling wasn’t the only attack she had committed in recent months. On September 24, police were called after she allegedly threatened to kill someone, but she wasn’t charged.
She was handcuffed and placed in the back of a police car after that, but began racially abusing an Asian police officer and kicking another.
Harris proceeded to issue more vile racial insults to a mixed-race officer whom she also spat at.
Inside the police station, she started chanting ‘Tommy Robinson’ and referencing the far-right group he formed, the EDL.
Harris has 44 previous convictions for 93 offences, including once attacking a woman with a samurai sword in a row over text messages, the court was told.
Defending lawyer Amir Riaz said her childhood trauma had caused Harris to have a negative attitude towards people in authority, adding she suffered from a personality disorder, anxiety and depression.
He told the court: ‘But for alcohol consumption, it seems this offending would not have happened. The offence was not pre-planned or premeditated. The defendant invited the complainant (Mr Keeling) to her address.’
Recorder Stagg later said of Harris: ‘It is disturbing the motivation for violence was nothing more than a rivalry between two football clubs.’
Harris received two months in total for her attacks towards police officers, which she will have to serve up to 40% of in custody.
She will then commence her eight-year sentence for the wounding offence, which she will have to serve two-thirds of before release.
She was also declared ‘dangerous’ and made the subject of an extended three-year licence period.
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