A mother, who lashed out at ambulance men and police because she thought she was being accused of child abuse, has been spared jail.

The Sid Valley woman had been drinking before her baby son suffered a cut head in a kitchen accident when a pair of scissors fell off a kitchen counter at her home.

She lost her temper with the paramedics who came to deal with the emergency because she thought their questions about the accident amounted to an accusation that she harmed her child.

The woman rushed at and hit the lead crewman and then kicked out at his colleague and two police officers who were called to try to calm her down.

The incident led to the woman’s children being taken into care for three weeks before they were allowed home under supervision from social workers.

A jury rejected her plea of self defence and found the mother guilty of battery against the two paramedics and two police at a trial at Exeter Crown Court.

She was cleared of neglect on the orders of Judge Jeremy Griggs during the course of the trial.

Judge Griggs jailed her for six months, suspended for two years and ordered her to receive supervision and do 100 hours unpaid community work. He ordered £2,100 costs.

He told her: “Those who serve the public as police or paramedics are entitled to look to the courts for a measure of protection. That night you were no doubt affected by alcohol and became violent.

“You are intelligent and I accept you are a hard working woman and this was out of character, although it is also clear you have a formidable temper.”

During the trial last month emergency nurse Raymond Bowden told how a routine call escalated into violence when the mother, who had dialled 999 after the baby was hurt, changed her mind about him needing hospital treatment.

He said she had become angry and abusive while he was asking questions about the child and the injury and rushed at him, making him worry he was about to be attacked.

A second ambulance man and two police who were called to the incident say they were hit, punched or kicked as they tried to persuade the mother to let her child go to hospital.

She told the jury she had never sought to prevent the baby being treated but became upset when she felt she was being accused falsely of child abuse.

Mr Mark Jackson, defending, said the mother had already suffered the ordeal of having her two children taken into care for three weeks after the incident and the family is still being monitored by social workers.