A MOTHER who assaulted a school matron while drunk has been jailed for six weeks.

Cheryl Allen, 44, of Clifton Road, Chesham Bois, who admitted assault and criminal damage at an earlier hearing was sentenced by Amersham magistrates on Wednesday.

She had been drinking when she went to Dr Challoner's High School in Cokes Lane, Little Chalfont, on December 7 and confronted matron Susan Jordan.

In a statement read out by Mary Clouston, prosecuting, Mrs Jordan said: "She punched me four or five times in the head and kicked my leg. The punches mainly hit the back of my head and the top of the skull.

"Two punches felt very hard and hurt. The others were not as forceful."

Allen had gone to the school to confront staff after they referred her daughter to social services, mistakenly thinking she was having a bad home life, the court heard.

She had been driven to the school by a woman who came across her laying in the street, in Amersham Road, Amersham. When they arrived at the school Allen tried to get out of the car before it stopped moving.

Ms Clouston said Allen ran toward the school doors asking for the matron. The matron came out and Allen attacked her, pinning her against a car.

Mrs Jordan managed to escape into the school. Allen gave pursuit, but the front door had been barricaded. Allen kicked the door up to 60 times, the court heard, smashing a reinforced glass panel.

Imran Jaffar, mitigating, said Allen had been left devastated after discovering her husband was having a relationship with another woman in 1999.

"This lady has had severe difficulties after the break-up of her marriage and has been dependent on alcohol for a long time," he added. "In addition she has been on anti-depressants for the last two years and takes other medication for panic attacks."

He said that the daughter was upset because of a bereavement in the family and had been approached by the school.

He said: "They [the school] thought the problem was that she was not happy at home and notification was sent to social services asking them to intervene.

"They sent her [Allen] a letter, which is why this all happened in the first place."

Mr Jaffar said a combination of alcohol and her medication would have affected Allen's mind when she committed the offences. He added: "She has two young children she looks after and she is not the sort of lady who goes around kicking in door panels and punching people on the head.

"There was no medical evidence of injuries. My client says she had simply pushed matron and not attacked her, as put by the Crown."

Magistrates' chairman Elizabeth Walsh said Allen would serve half of her six-week sentence.

She added: "The offence is so serious custody is the only way of dealing with it, because it was a drunken attack on a member of staff witnessed by children going home."