Reveller plunged glass in boyfriend’s face at ‘funk night’
PUB-ROW WOMAN WALKS FREE FROM COURT OVER ‘MOMENT OF MADNESS’
A WOMAN who plunged a wine glass into her boyfriend’s face during a row in a village pub has walked free from court after insisting she acted in a ‘moment of madness.’
Denise Bintcliffe, 57, smashed the glass of red wine into her partner’s forehead after he slapped her, when they began arguing during a soul and funk evening.
Police arrived at the Crown and Conspirator pub in Bramhall, Stockport, to find the victim holding his head in his hands.
Bintcliffe, who had been dating the man for 17 years said: “I don’t know why I hit him. I just can’t believe that I’ve done it.”
Her partner was taken to Stepping Hill Hospital in Stockport where he needed six stiches for his wound. He takes medication to thin his blood and lost so much of it in the attack he was on the verge of needing a transfusion. He declined to give a statement to police about the incident.
At Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court, Bintcliffe, from Cheadle Hulme, Stockport, faced jail after she admitted assault occasioning actual bodily harm. But she was freed with eight months custody, suspended for 18 months after her partner said he wanted to see her again.
The fight broke out when the couple went to a soul funk disco at the pub on October 2 last year. Initially they could be seen enjoying the music.
But video footage played in court showed Bintcliffe thrusting her wine glass into her boyfriend’s forehead before he clasped his head in his hands.
Eleanor Myers, prosecuting, said the defendant remained at the scene until paramedics arrived and police arrived around 11pm. “The officer explained that he wanted to speak to the defendant regarding the incident.”
Miss Myers said: “She replied ‘Yes, that’s fine, I’ve done it, so I understand.’’
The victim sustained a cut to an artery on his forehead and the court heard medics “struggled” to control the blood flow. The victim was left with swelling and pain around the brow.
In mitigation Bintcliffe’s counsel, Niamh McGinty said her client posed “a low risk of reoffending”. She said the couple had not seen each other since the incident but he told friends he wanted to see her again.
The court heard Bintcliffe suffers from brain damage, sustained after complications of a medical operation, as well as epilepsy and depression.
“She is deeply ashamed of her behaviour,” Miss McGinty said. “She was horrified by what she had done and she is very much aware of how serious it could have been. It can be properly described as a moment of madness.”
Sentencing Judge Paul Lawton told Bintcliffe: “It was only because I consider this an act of impulse and not a deliberate action that I am suspending the prison sentence. This is a case where compensation is not appropriate given the nature of the relationship.”
Bintcliffe was ordered to complete a ‘Skills for Relationships’ 30 Rehabilitation Requirement Days and pay a £156 victim surcharge.