AN ALCOHOLIC mother who twice urinated on a public war memorial in front of horrified onlookers has been sent to crown court for sentencing.

Kelly Martin, 42, outraged public decency when she desecrated the monument in broad daylight in Grays, first in April and again in June, on the eve of the Battle of the Somme centenary.

Mothers with young children were among the mortified members of the public who witnessed the unsavoury act, pictures of which were posted to social media.

Outrage erupted when the images of the June 30 offence surfaced online on July 1, as the nation came together to remember the hundreds of thousands who lost their lives during the Somme offensive in 1916.

District Judge John Woollard told the defendant during a hearing at Basildon Magistrates' Court that he did not feel it was "within my sentencing powers" to deal with the case, given a slew of aggravating features - including that Martin was drunk and appeared remorseless.

He said: "It's difficult to think of something more outrageous than urinating in a public place on a memorial which is clearly designed to reflect the losses of family in the area around you in two world wars."

Martin will now face another hearing at Basildon Crown Court on September 22, where a judge will have the power to impose a sentence beyond the two-year maximum that judges are limited to in magistrates' court.

Mother-of-five Martin, of no fixed abode, was arrested on July 2 and was convicted last week at Basildon Magistrates' Court of two charges of outraging public decency and one of common assault and using abusive language against a paramedic the same day.