A 25-YEAR-OLD woman who was held in a Portuguese jail for more than four months is free to come home for Christmas after receiving a suspended jail term for assaulting a police officer.

Monmouth MP David Davies took up the case of Sophie Grey in a bid to get her freed from custody while awaiting trial, and she was finally released in August.

The former Monmouth Comprehensive School pupil was convicted of assaulting a police officer near Lisbon last month, which she denied, and given a six-month suspended jail term, meaning she can finally return to the UK after a seven-month ordeal.

Carer Ms Grey was visiting a festival with her boyfriend and another man when the incident allegedly happened. Her family say she feared armed police were going to shoot her dogs Vino and Stamper after she became involved in an altercation between the men and police.

She was cleared of two other charges by the court in Sintra, but her family now say they are considering seeking compensation for her lengthy spell in custody after her arrest in April. They say she was “imprisoned illegally”.

Her father Roger Grey said she denied hitting the police officer, having returned from the beach with her dogs to find armed police arresting her boyfriend.

The court heard she had allegedly “flailed” her arms, and the police officer involved told the court “she was not hitting him, she was trying to stop him arresting her.”

The family believe the six-month suspended jail term is “harsh”, but Ms Grey is “just glad” it is all over and she is now free to return home in time for Christmas.

Her two co-defendants were handed three-year suspended jail sentences and ordered to pay a joint fine of 9,000 Euros.