A BIRMINGHAM shoplifter has escaped a jail sentence despite biting the hand of a security guard who detained her.

Romanian-born Iomelia Ionita also drew blood from guard Ricky Lawless’s hand when she dug her nails into it.

Warwick Crown Court heard she lashed out after she and an accomplice pilfered two boxes of Armani perfume from a branch of department store Debenhams, in Stratford-upon-Avon, in January.

They were followed by Mr Lawless and tried to flee in a car but he took hold of the other woman by her arm.

He let go when he realised she was pregnant, and Ionita, having thrown the perfume to the floor, jumped in front of him and dug her nails into his hand, drawing blood, as her accomplice ran away.

Mr Lawless detained Ionita and began to lead her back to the store to wait for the police. But she dropped her bag and let out a series of loud screams, pointing to her left arm, which he believed was a deliberate attempt to draw people’s attention.

Ionita, who rolled her sleeve up to reveal some old yellow bruising, again dug her nails into Mr Lawless’s hand and then bent forward and bit it, leaving teeth marks.

Ionita, 21, of Willes Road, Winson Green, had pleaded guilty to stealing perfume and assaulting Mr Lawless.

She was sentenced to seven months in prison, suspended for two years, and ordered to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work and to take part in a course to learn English.

Mark Knowles, defending, said that as Romanians, she and her husband are entitled only to work on the land in this country, and they were struggling financially in the winter.

Sentencing Ionita, who had been subject to a curfew with electronic tagging while on bail, Judge Trevor Faber told her: “There was no excuse at all for using that violence on him when you had been caught red-handed stealing.”