AN AUCHINLECK woman who set her dog on police before spitting at cops and threatening them has been spared jail.

Anne Carson set her dog on officers after they called at her home and told her the premises would be searched.

Carson’s own lawyer told a court hearing that his client was lucky that the dog didn’t cause the officers more serious injuries.

The 43-year-old has a previous conviction for shooting at boys with a BB gun for bullying her daughter.

Carson dodged jail for that offence, which was committed in May 2018, instead being ordered to do unpaid community work.

And when she was sentenced for her latest crime, she was again spared time behind bars – this time being told she’ll have to wear an electronic tag.

Carson, 43, admitted assaulting police and behaving in a threatening or abusive manner following the latest incident at her home address in Peden Drive, Auchinleck on January 18, 2022.

Procurator fiscal depute Chris Munro told Ayr Sheriff Court last week: “At 11.30pm police were inside the home address of the accused.

“On being told she would be subject to a search, her dog entered the living room. She then told it to bite them.

“The accused began making threats to officers, while the dog would not let go.

“The accused lunged towards a police witness kicking their left shin.

“The dog made attempts to bite and left superficial scratches.

“On conveying the accused to the cell van she lunged at police witness spitting at their face, however managed to avoid contact.”

She stated “watch this space you f*****g r***rd”.

She also stated “I’ll put the head on you” and “you are a dead man”, though the court was told she also said “sorry that I kicked you”.

When Sheriff Shirley Foran asked about the type of dog owned by Carson, defence solicitor Graeme Cunningham told the court it was a Staffordshire cross.

Mr Cunningham said: “It’s lucky it wasn’t far more serious. Both officers had superficial scratches and could continue and the spit didn’t lie.

“It’s a disgusting example of behaviour – behaviour that my lady would be perfectly entitled to send her to prison for.

“Perhaps she might be lucky again.”

Sheriff Foran placed Carson on a community payback order and under supervision for 18 months.

She will also have to wear a tag and will be confined to her home between 7pm and 7am for two months.

In 2019, Carson pleaded guilty to climbing out of a window at her then home in Old Avenue in May of the previous year and firing the gun’s plastic pellets at a group of children, hitting two 14-year-old boys.

She later told the Chronicle she had “no regrets” about her behaviour, saying she believed staff at Auchinleck Academy were not doing enough to help her daughter.

Passing sentence in July 2019, Sheriff Desmond Leslie told Carson: “This is not the Wild West we live in.”