Bottle was weapon

SMASHED IT TO STAB SHOPPER

A THUG who smashed a wine bottle and used it to attack an innocent bystander is facing a lengthy prison sentence.

Nicola Mooney, 43, of Rose Terrace, Cowgate, asked her girlfriend to buy a bottle of wine for her from a newsagent in Newbiggin Hall shopping centre on September 21 last year.

She then used it to stab 54-year-old shopper John Henry Hands over a petty argument they’d had in the chemist minutes earlier.

Mooney suggested she would give the bottle to Mr Hands as a gesture of a good faith but she fashioned it into a weapon and inflicted deep stab wounds to his shoulder and torso instead.

She fled the area with her girlfriend, leaving witnesses to tend to the victim.

Mr Hands was taken to hospital by paramedics. He had to have emergency surgery to a damaged artery and received 36 stitches.

Northumbria Police officers were dispatched to find Mooney and within minutes she had been detained at a local park, still carrying the bottle in a carrier bag.

Mooney was arrested and later charged with assault occasioning grievous bodily harm but Mooney initially denied the offence.

She was due to trial at Newcastle Crown Court on Monday but instead changed her plea to guilty and now faces a lengthy spell behind bars.

In a statement, Mr Hands said the incident continues to haunt him nearly six months on. He said: “The incident has left me feeling like I am not the same person. My confidence has been knocked severely.”

Mooney was remanded in custody and will be sentenced at Newcastle Crown Court on April 12.