Knife attack Oxford girl who’s too bright for jail
Medical student grins as she walks free after stabbing lover
AN OXFORD student dubbed ‘too clever for prison’ when a judge delayed her sentencing due to her glittering academic career has avoided a jail term.
Medical student Lavinia Woodward, 24, left her Tinder lover Thomas Fairclough, 25, needing stitches in his leg after stabbing him with a breadknife in a row over her drink problem.
Woodward also cut Mr Fairclough’s fingers and hurled a laptop, a glass and a jam jar at him.
Woodward – who has a personality disorder, eating disorder, and drug and alcohol dependency, according to her lawyer – admitted unlawful wounding at Oxford Crown Court after the incident last September. She found herself at the centre of controversy when her sentencing judge hinted she would avoid jail because of her ‘extraordinary’ intelligence.
Although the violent offence would normally attract a jail term, Judge Ian Pringle QC controversially said he did not want to damage her ‘long-held desire’ of becoming a heart surgeon.
Yesterday, Woodward – who lives near Milan with her mother – returned to court, accompanied by two solicitors and wearing a smart black trouser suit and Gucci-style flat shoes. In mitigation, her celebrity lawyer, Jim Sturman QC, slammed ‘ill-informed reporting of the case’, saying his client ‘cannot even go to a nightclub in London because she is so recognisable’. Mr Sturman – who describes himself as representing ‘celebrities and high-net-worth individuals’ – said his client’s voluntary stint in rehab in Italy had been equivalent to time in ‘custody’. He implored Oxford Crown Court to steer a ‘truly exceptional’ course’ and not jail Woodward, but instead hand her a conditional discharge.
Mr Sturman said: ‘She moved to London in August – she had been sitting around at home doing virtually nothing. She got herself a job in a shop in London where after 24 hours she was recognised as having been in trouble. She was fired after two days.’
Mr Sturman said Woodward – who was educated at the British School of Milan, formerly known as the Sir James Henderson School, where fees can top £16,000 a year and which is close to her mother’s £1 million villa in the village of Sirtori – was going back to the rehabilitation clinic in Italy and had given up hope of returning to Oxford this year because of the publicity. He added: ‘She has effectively been in custody for four weeks. She has been drug tested every week.’
Mr Sturman did not refer to the slew of claims from Woodward’s peers, who have previously told the Mail how she had subjected fellow students to a ‘reign of terror’. A source familiar with Woodward’s career at Oxford said: ‘This was not a solitary incident. There are other people she has threatened.’
Despite these allegations, Judge Pringle yesterday said Woodward was a ‘highly intelligent individual’ who had fought ‘with a strong and unwavering determination’ to address her problems.
Sentencing a weeping Woodward, the judge said she was ‘old enough and intelligent enough’ to have predicted the consequences of her heavy drinking. He said: ‘Your partner paid you a visit in your accommodation in Christ Church College. It rapidly became clear to him you had been drinking. He tried to discourage your drinking without success.
‘Your partner contacted your mother over Skype to seek her assistance over what to do about you. When you discovered this you became extremely angry, starting to throw objects. You picked up a breadknife... and struck a blow with it to his lower leg.
‘When the emergency services arrived it was abundantly clear you were intoxicated, deeply distraught and mentally disturbed.’
But the judge added: ‘There are many mitigating features in your case. Principally, at the age of 24 you have no previous convictions of any nature whatsoever.’ He handed Woodward a sentence of ten months in jail, suspended for 18 months, with no conditions.
The Dean of Christ Church College last night moved to reassure students who are unhappy with the college’s alleged inaction over complaints of bullying made against Woodward.
The Very Revd Professor Martyn Percy said: ‘We are concerned for the welfare of all our students, and it is clearly a matter of regret and sadness when any young person blights a promising career by committing a crime.’
He added: ‘Ms Woodward is not currently studying at Oxford having voluntarily suspended her medical studies.
‘The question of her future will now be decided by the university, which has procedures in place when a student is the subject of a criminal conviction.’
Woodward had earlier admitted one charge of wounding Mr Fairclough.
‘Too recognisable to go to a nightclub’