A DISTRICT judge has criticised Essex Police for not doing more to find out about the impact of a crime on an assault victim.

A taxi driver was bitten twice by young thug Millie Young after she got a lift from Colchester to Clacton.

At Colchester Magistrates' Court on Tuesday sentencing was delayed again because officers failed to follow a court order and get a victim impact statement.

On September 24 Young, of Nayland Drive, Clacton, ended her journey with an assault occasioning actual bodily harm, a crime she admitted.

The 20-year-old had been asked for identification to ensure she did not skip a fare having been split from a friend.

After navigating the driver to Station Road in Clacton, Young said she had to go inside and get money for the fare.

When the driver asked her to leave identification as insurance against her running off and grabbed her bag, she bit him twice.

After biting his arm like an out of control animal her mobile phone fell out of her bag and police were able to trace her.

She was drunk at the time.

Young was due to be sentenced yesterday but prosecutor Stephen Sparkes revealed, despite district judge John Woollard ordering one, police had still not provided a victim's statement.

He revealed the office involved in the case was on leave and the force, when asked to call him to ask about the report, refused to do so because it was not policy to call officers who are on leave.

Raph Piggott, mitigating, told the court Young's mother had recently been diagnosed with breast cancer which affected her mood.

However district judge Woollard called a halt to the hearing.

He said: "It is clear the police have to seek the victim's views.

"I do not know why they have not got the details from the victim.

"The victim is entitled to put matters before me about the impact.

"If the police are committed to ensuring victim's views are properly put before the court they have to help the court.

"The public need to understand the difficulties the courts sometimes face [when it is not done]."

He called for an explanation from the officer why the statement was not available, if the victim did not produce one why this was not communicated to the court and what steps had actually been taken since the report was ordered by the court.

Sentencing will now take place on March 3.