SARAH Harrison feared she would have to get married with a broken nose and bruised face.

She was doing nothing more provocative than her job as a paramedic when a drunken woman attacked her as she tried to calm her at a hospital A & E department. Sarah, now married and living in Blackrod, was the victim of what could have been a disfiguring attack just before her wedding. In court last week, the woman involved was ordered to pay Sarah £50 compensation.

Sadly, this kind of violent incident has increasingly become an unwelcome part of the job and, as her boss, Derek Cartwright, rightly points out it’s “unacceptable”. The sooner prison sentences automatically result for attacks on emergency personnel the better.