WOMAN SMASHED PLATE IN FACE OF CHIP SHOP OWNER IN ‘COLD FOOD’ ROW
Victim needed nose surgery after attack by customer at her home
A WOMAN smashed a plate in the face of a chip shop owner and left her with a bloody nose following a row over an order.
Wendy Mountford struck Shirley Hollies with the crockery, which broke, after throwing chips and mushy peas at her back.
She then pulled her hair during the incident at her home in Well Street, Biddulph.
Mountford denied using the plate as a weapon and claimed she was acting in self-defence after Mrs Hollies attacked her. But the 55-year-old was convicted of causing actual bodily harm following a trial at North Staffordshire Justice Centre.
Giving evidence, Mountford admitted she sometimes took too much prescription medication and hallucinated. The court heard she called to order two meals from Shepherd Street Chippy, Biddulph, on the evening of April 24, 2021. But when the food was delivered to her bungalow, she found some items were missing.
Mountford called the chip shop to complain, and Mrs Hollies, who runs the business with her husband, delivered the additional items herself. But when she got to the address, the row continued, with Mountford now claiming the food delivered first was cold.
Mrs Hollies said she told Mountford she would be reimbursed, and started to leave.
She told the court: “I felt something on my back and I realised she’d thrown the food at me. I saw later that there were peas down my back. I turned around to ask her what she was doing, but as I turned, I saw this plate hurtle at my face, and I just felt this massive pain in my face.
I put my hands on my face and put my head down. My nose was pouring blood. But then she started pulling at my hair. I was just trying to get her off me. I was continuing to bleed while this was happening. I was trying to protect my face.”
Mrs Hollies eventually got away and drove back to the chip shop, using her pinny to soak up the blood gushing from her nose, and the police were called.
She went to A&E where medics said her nose was not broken, but she was later diagnosed with a deviated septum. A doctor stated it could only have been the result of blunt force trauma.
She added: “I had surgery on it, I paid for it myself. I just couldn’t sleep.”
The court also heard Mountford was heard slurring her words when she placed her order, and when she complained.
But she insisted she was not drunk, having only consumed
half a pint of lager that day – although she was taking several prescription medicines.
During her evidence, Mountford claimed she had intended to throw the food at her garden, not Mrs Hollies. But she said this resulted in the other woman shouting angrily and lunging at her, and a scuffle in the porch. She also claimed the plate had been dropped to the floor, causing it to smash.
She said her son Mark Mountford had been standing between the two of them as they pulled each other’s hair, and claimed Mrs Hollies broke her thumb.
Mrs Hollies denied this, and Mr Mountford admitted under cross-examination he could have accidentally caused the injury himself as he tried to keep the women apart.
The court also heard from Mountford’s friend Steven Ball, who had visited a pub with her and was in the house at the time of the incident. He also claimed Mrs Hollies started the fight – although several details were different in his account, such as his claimed the scuffle preceded the food throwing.
The magistrates accepted the prosecution’s version of events and found Mountford guilty of causing actual bodily harm.
Sentence was adjourned until June 13.