Top student avoids jail for knifing
BRITAIN: An Oxford University medical student has been spared a jail sentence for stabbing her boyfriend with a bread knife by a judge who previously suggested she was too bright for prison.
Lavinia Woodward, 24, will not return to the university this year and is considering continuing her studies abroad because she is now ‘‘too recognisable’’.
Woodward admitted she had a cocaine problem after punching her boyfriend and then hurling a glass, laptop and jam jar at him. The university is considering disciplinary measures.
The aspiring heart surgeon was sentenced to a 10-month prison sentence, suspended for 18 months. She admitted unlawfully wounding Thomas Fairclough while drunk and on drugs in student halls at Christ Church college in December. She met him on the dating app Tinder.
When she admitted the charges in May, Judge Ian Pringle, QC, said a custodial sentence may be ‘‘too severe’’ because it could ruin Woodward’s promising medical career. The judge indicated he would show leniency to the ‘‘extraordinarily able young lady’’ at the earlier hearing because her actions appeared to be ‘‘a complete one-off’’.
He took the ‘‘exceptional’’ step of delaying sentencing for four months and ordered her to remain drug free while she stayed at her mother’s villa in Milan, Italy.
Sentencing her yesterday, the judge said: ‘‘There are many mitigating features in your case. Principally, at the age of 24, you have no previous convictions of any nature whatsoever. Secondly, I find that you were genuinely remorseful following this event and, indeed, [though] it was against your bail conditions, you contacted your partner to fully confess your guilt and your deep sorrow for what happened.
‘‘Thirdly, while you are a clearly highly intelligent individual, you had an immaturity about you which was not commensurate for someone of your age.’’
Woodward appeared in court wearing a black suit and white blouse accompanied by a female security guard. She wept and dabbed her eyes with a tissue as the judge passed sentence.
Jim Sturman, QC, for the defence, urged the judge to give Woodward a conditional discharge due to her ‘‘unique vulnerability, remorse and good character’’.
‘‘Having committed this out-ofcharacter offence, she went to a 24-hour rehab treatment centre for drug addiction. She stayed there for four weeks and also received counselling for an eating disorder she has had since the age of 9.
‘‘She was living in Milan but moved to London in August and took a job working at a shop, but less than 48 hours later she was recognised and was fired.
‘‘We respectfully submit this is not a case that crosses the custody threshold. She’s had incredible stresses and strains over the last few months, requiring anxiety medication and she attempted suicide in police custody.’’
– The Times