A WOMAN suffering from mental health issues, who set off a foam fire extinguisher, and sprayed it on a police officer has been jailed for 16 weeks.
42-year-old Mignonette Goodchild, who is of no fixed abode, but gave the court her father’s address of Hamilton Court, Pembroke Dock, had entered an unsecured property at Strumble Head and was squatting as a means of self-isolating during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Prior to this, she had been living in her car in a field rented from a businessman at Cross Inn, Ceredigion.
Goodchild receives no benefits or help from the government despite her issues, and receives only ad hoc financial help from her father, a pensioner.
Fearing for her safety, after a previous promise of accommodation fell through due to Covid-19, she took what she describes to this newspaper as the “reluctant decision” to enter the
otherwise unoccupied holiday let property through an insecure window.
Speaking on the telephone to her father from prison she said: “I am now in jail because I thought that Covid-19 would kill me”.
After staying at the property for one night, a caretaker spotted a car in the car park, and raised the alarm that there was a squatter at the property.
The police were called, and when officers attended the property on April 3, Goodchild had covered the inside of the front door with a layer of foam from a fire extinguisher. She then started screaming to the police: “You’re not coming through, you may have the disease!”
As the police opened the door to gain access, Goodchild continued spraying foam, some of which covered the police officers.
Police then gained entry to the property, which is owned by The National Trust, and arrested Goodchild by tackling her to the floor. During the arrest, the defendant received two black eyes and a cut across her nose.
At Swansea Crown Court on Tuesday (Aug 18) Goodchild was handed a custodial sentence. She has already spent some time on remand at Eastwood Park Prison, South Gloucestershire due to missing her original court date through failure to receive the summons.
