Blumenthal sister walks free after hitting mother

The sister of Heston Blumenthal, the television chef, was yesterday barred from visiting her elderly mother whom she assaulted twice, as a judge spared her jail.

Alexis Blumenthal, 49, of Thame, Oxon, was given a suspended 10-week prison sentence at Oxford magistrates’ court after she admitted two assaults on Celia, her 76-year-old mother – including slamming her head against the side of a car.

Sentencing her, District Judge Tim Pattinson said: “You have difficult problems including alcohol and an emotionally unstable personality.”