Mother, 36, attacked her cousin over family gossip

A MOTHER-of-five who left her cousin’s hand permanently deformed after fracturing her finger in a late-night family row has avoided an immediate jail sentence.

Rachel Holyhead was in a severe temper when she twisted her victim’s fingers after getting annoyed over family gossip, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard.

The rowdy pair had to be prised apart by police in the middle of the night after Holyhead threatened to hurl a brick through her cousin’s window and ‘smash her face in’ during the fracas.

Holyhead, 36, of Brewery

Street, Dudley, denied wounding or inflicting grievous bodily harm without intent but was convicted following a trial and jailed for ten months suspended for a year.

She was also ordered to carry out a total of 90 hours of unpaid work, pay £250 compensation and a victim surcharge, and was handed a 25-day rehabilitation activity requirement.

Alice Aubrey-Fletcher, prosecuting, said surgeons operated twice on the victim’s right hand but she will never regain full use of it – ‘massively affecting’ her basic daily tasks.

She said Holyhead went to her cousin’s Netherton home to confront her partner about a conversation he had with another family member in November 2019.

“The victim describes being grabbed by the throat and pushed back into the house. The defendant grabbed her fingers and twisted.

“She described a shooting pain which forced her to drop to her knees, screaming to let go.”

The victim suffered a fracture to her right hand which required an operation to insert a plate and pins, and needed a wrist splint during her recovery she added.

Simon Hanns, defending, said Holyhead was ‘extremely foolish’ and her behaviour was ‘out of character’.

There had been no previous issues between the pair.