A MUM-of-two has been fined after she was caught with pepper spray in her makeup bag during a police raid.

Charlotte Tatlock was found with the incapacitant, which is considered to be a firearm by the police, at her home in Orford in November.

Warrington Magistrates Court heard on Monday, January 7, that officers executed a warrant at the 25-year-old's flat on Alder Lane at around 8.30am on Friday, November 30.

A 'number of items' were found in the property – including a bag belonging to the defendant, which contained a makeup bag with a canister of pepper spray stashed inside it.

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She told police at the scene: "I've been robbed a couple of times and I need to keep myself safe."

The court heard that Tatlock, a mum to daughters aged seven and three, did not realise that the spray was illegal and that she had purchased it as her home had been burgled twice recently.

Although the defendant was due to appear before the court on Thursday, December 20, she failed to do so as she was ill.

A warrant for her arrest was issued, and she then attended Warrington Magistrates Court the following day – where she admitted possession of a weapon for the discharge of noxious gas and failing to answer to court bail.

Earlier this week Tatlock, who has seven previous convictions for 10 offences including assaulting a police officer, was fined a total of £165 for these offences.

She was handed a 12-month community order with a 20-day rehabilitation activity requirement by magistrates, while the forfeiture and destruction of the pepper spray was also ordered.