Glass attack groom still gets to church on time

A groom who nearly lost an eye after being glassed during a pub quiz the night before his wedding day still got to the church on time.

Scott Richards, 31, required more than 14 stitches, was scarred for life and was almost forced to call off the big day after medics warned he might need an eye removed.

His Adele, 34, saw her groom’s mangled face for the first time as she walked down the aisle after only being informed of the attack just hours before.

Attacker Tyler Plumridge, 28, who flung the glass into Scott’s face at the Singleton Barn pub, was spared jail at Canterbury Crown Court earlier this month.

Drunk Plumridge, a former security guard at Ashford’s County Square, lashed out after having joined Scott’s group at a Sunday night quiz, when he was caught stealing a wallet and a phone.

He was asked to hand the stuff back and to leave the pub but instead stripped to his pants before throwing a pint glass into Scott’s face.

The couple claim that their £18,000 wedding day was “almost totally ruined” by Plumridge’s actions.

Scott, a carpenter, said: “I still have nightmares about it now where I wake up in a cold sweat and can’t get back to sleep, the flashbacks are terrible.

“The whole incident was just so out of the blue, we’d only gone out for a few quiet drinks, but as soon as he threw the glass at my face there was blood everywhere.

“I had to be rushed to A&E straight away where they spent hours picking glass from my eye ball. Doctors thought they might have to take my whole eye out and advised that I’d have to miss the wedding if so... it was awful.

“My wife, Adele, who I wasn’t meant to be speaking to, as it was technically our wedding day, was devastated when I called to tell her. The whole day was really hard as a result because I had a banging headache, I was in so much pain and looked a right state for the pictures.

“I was bruised, bandaged up and scarred. Our two-year-old son was clearly worried when he saw me looking all mangled up and kept asking if I’d ‘fallen over’. Thankfully the photographer was clever with the pics and we got some decent ones where I look okay but it really was a nightmare.”

The wedding, took place at Cooling Castle Bar in Medway.

Both Adele and Scott, who have been together for five years and have a son, Oscar, say they feel let down by the punishment given to Plumridge, who was given a suspended jail sentence after pleading guilty to grievous bodily harm.

He was ordered to pay Scott £1,000 in compensation within three months.

Adele, who works in marketing, said: “I’m absolutely fuming about the sentence, this vile man almost ruined the most important day of our lives, never mind the health repercussions for Scott.

“I’m 100% sure that Plumridge knew that Scott was the groom and must have had some idea of what he was doing when he smashed that glass into my husband’s face.

“Scott was forced to put a brave face on it for our whole wedding day but it was clear that he wasn’t himself.”

She added: “We did discuss cancelling the whole thing but in the end decided not to. I was late getting to the venue for my own wedding as after I’d spoken to Scott I just sat in my car and cried hysterically for 45 minutes, I couldn’t believe it had all gone so wrong.”

The newlyweds were forced to spend their first week as man and wife shuttling between the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford and specialist eye hospital The Royal Victoria in Folkestone.

Adele said: “He was still not completely well for our honeymoon to the Dominican Republic two weeks later.

She said“Scott definitely isn’t the same carefree person he was before the attack.

“He’s in a permanent state of high alert, it’s so sad to see how much it’s affected him.”

Scott Richards’s injuries following the glass attack and having make-up applied on his wedding day, right