A woman who admitted affray in a pub, assaulting a police officer and carrying a knife has lost her appeal against her 30 month jail term.

Lianne McKee, 45, of First Avenue, Onchan, admitted affray, two offences of assaulting a police officer, possession of a bladed article and breached a suspended sentence supervision order.

She was jailed the Court of General Gaol Delivery in May last year, her case having been committed for sentence from the summary court.

Now the appeal court has ruled that her 30 month sentence was not manifestly excessive.

The affray took place at the Heron pub in Anagh Coar in July 2023. McKee was acting in a rowdy manner, swearing and taking other customers’ drinks.

When asked to leave, she replied: ‘If you want me to leave you will have to drag me out of there’.

She admitted climbing over the bar hatch and becoming involved in a tussle with bar staff during which a number of glasses and bottles were knocked onto the floor.

The pub’s general manager received a cut to her arm during the course of the affray.

McKee went on to commit three further offences, all within a short period of each other and all while on bail and in breach of a suspended sentence.

On the evening of September 14, police were called to a disturbance at School Road, Onchan.

There had been an ongoing feud between two women and as officers dealt with one of the women, McKee tried to intervene multiple times.

She was shouting and swearing and then kicked a police constable forcefully in the sternum. Fortunately the officer had no lasting injuries.

On December 26 that year, the defendant became involved in a heated dispute with her boyfriend at her home in Onchan, which resulted in him leaving the property. She suspected he was having an affair, the court heard.

Police were contacted by the defendant’s mother who told them of McKee’s intentions and where she was going.

Officers located her in a lane between School Road and Barrule Drive. In her trouser pocket they found a black-handled 5ins bladed kitchen knife.

McKee also admitted a second charge of assaulting a police officer which took place in February last year.

Her appeal against her 30 months sentence was ruled to be without merit.

The appeal court accepted that the 12 month sentence she had been handed for the affray was too long and would have been a maximum of six months if the offence had stood alone.

But in a judgment, Judge of Appeal Anthony Cross KC and Acting Deemster Wild accepted the overall sentence was the right one.

They said: ‘Had we been dealing with the matter at first instance we would most certainly have imposed a shorter sentence.

‘However, the Deemster was not dealing with a woman just for the offence of affray. He had to deal with a woman who had a bad record and had committed offences on bail and in breach of court orders.’