Naked vet’s assistant hurled wine bottle at lover in hotel corridor
A NAKED veterinary assistant was caught on CCTV chasing her boyfriend down a hotel corridor with a wine bottle, a court heard yesterday.
Amelia Oxenford had been drinking heavily with Alex Buttigieg when they fell out over a man she saw during a brief split.
The argument spilled out into the corridor where the 21-year- old graduate threw the bottle, the court heard.
The couple were briefly locked outside their room but got inside with a spare key, only for Oxenford to slash Mr Buttigieg with a shard from a wine glass she had smashed in the bathroom.
When police arrived at the three-star Ascot Hyde Park Hotel in Bayswater, central London, Oxenford threatened to jump out of the window.
Her ‘shocked’ and ‘rambling’ victim was using a tissue to try to stem the flow of blood from a cut to his nose.
CCTV footage had to be pixelated to preserve Oxenford’s modesty when it was shown at City of London Magistrates’ Court yesterday.
The court heard the couple had been together for nine months before splitting up, only to reunite a month later.
In January, the pair travelled to London, sharing a bottle of wine on the train and another during dinner. Oxenford, of Royston, Cambridgeshire, also downed four cocktails.
Prosecutor Trevor Green said the defendant’s dalliance with another man during their split led to the altercation when they went back to their hotel.
‘This resulted in Miss Oxenford pushing him into the corridor and on the CCTV she can be seen naked and lunging at the victim,’ he told the court.
‘He said she threw an empty bottle of wine at him and there was a brief tussle when she reached out for the spectacles on his face and one of the arms was snapped off.’
Hostilities ceased while Mr Buttigieg collected a spare key from reception while his naked girlfriend waited upstairs. But police were called after the violence resumed in the room and Mr Buttigieg was slashed with the shard of glass.
Officers described hearing Oxenford, who studied event management at Bournemouth University, shouting that she was going to harm herself and jump out of the window.
When she finally opened the door, she was naked except for her bra.
One officer said: ‘She was agitated, under the influence of alcohol, she was drunk. She was slurring her words and there was an overwhelming smell of alcohol on her breath.
‘(Mr Buttigieg) said she came at him, punching him, and picked up the piece of glass and swiped it at him, causing the cut.’ Asked in court why she had been naked when the fight broke out after 2am, Oxenford – who describes herself on Facebook as single – said: ‘I suppose I felt a bit more comfortable.’
She added: ‘I can’t remember a lot of what happened but I do remember Alex shouting at me and pinning me down to the bed. I was terrified and vulnerable and he was very aggressive.
‘I have a good job and work hard and like to think I’m a good citizen. I’ve never committed a crime.
‘I felt like I was defending myself in all honesty and felt he did hit me as well.’
She denied assault and causing £300 worth of criminal damage to the glasses but was convicted after the trial.
She was bailed for sentencing on Thursday.
Mr Buttigieg didn’t give a statement to police and was not in court yesterday.
Oxenford has been working at Baldock Veterinary Centre, although she does not appear on an online list of staff.
A woman who answered the phone at the Royston practice last night refused to confirm if Oxenford was employed there, saying: ‘I don’t think anyone will want to comment on that.’ a.levy@dailymail.co.uk
‘I can’t remember a lot of what happened’