A YORK woman has walked free from court despite being convicted of an outburst at a pub within three weeks of receiving a suspended prison sentence.

Dawn Ann-Marie Cain, 35, appeared before York magistrates yesterday where she pleaded guilty to criminal damage last Friday, an imprisonable offence.

During yesterday's hearing no mention was made of a two-year prison term, suspended for two years, imposed at York Crown Court on July 3 for threatening police with a realistic toy gun during an armed siege.

On that occasion, the Honorary Recorder of York, Judge Paul Hoffman, told Cain: "The sentence is intended to protect the public. For the next two years you are walking a tight-rope."

He added that if she committed any offence before July 2004 the "overwhelming likelihood" was that she would serve the jail term.

Yesterday, York magistrates sentenced Cain, of Starkey Crescent, Tang Hall, for smashing two glasses and a whisky bottle in a dispute with bar staff who had declined to carry her drinks to her seat. She was fined £30 with £25 compensation and ordered to pay £55 court costs. A police copy of her previous convictions was handed in to the court, but records are sometimes out of date.

Trevor Beddoe, for the Crown Prosecution Service, told the magistrates that on July 19 Cain hurled abuse at staff in The Independent pub in Lowther Street, York, and tried to get behind the bar after staff suggested her friend could carry her drinks. Cain's solicitor Jane Maloney, of Cox Robertson, said Cain had never been involved in trouble at the pub before. She had been on crutches and in pain and thought the staff were being unhelpful. After the incident, she had returned to The Independent with police and offered to pay for the damage, but a member of staff refused to accept her money.

The Crown Prosecution Service was today investigating the situation after an approach from the Evening Press.

After the hearing, Lee Goodchild, partner of Cox Robertson, told the Evening Press that defence solicitors were under no obligation to tell courts about previous convictions, which were a matter for the prosecution and court records.

Updated: 12:19 Thursday, July 25, 2002