‘Clever’ stabber in court defeat
KNIFE ATTACK: Woodward AN OXFORD University medical student labelled “too clever for prison” after stabbing her boyfriend has lost an appeal against her suspended sentence.
Lavinia Woodward, 25, had been drinking when she slashed her then partner with a bread knife.
She received a 10-month prison term suspended for 18 months in September last year after admitting unlawful wounding.
Earlier, Judge Ian Pringle QC had given Woodward four months to prove herself and stay out of trouble.
Although the offence would normally attract a jail term, the judge said he did not want to damage her “long-held desire” of becoming a surgeon.
Critics said he was too soft because of her academic ability.
Woodward challenged her sentence at the Court of Appeal yesterday.
Her “exceptional” circumstances meant she could have been given a conditional discharge or a fine, lawyers said.
But, rejecting her appeal, Judge Johannah Cutts said Judge Pringle’s original sentence was “constructive and compassionate”.
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