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| Lavinia Woodward: Oxford student who was told she could avoid prison sentence 'due to her extraordinary talent' is spared jail | Lavinia Woodward: Oxford student who was told she could avoid prison sentence 'due to her extraordinary talent' is spared jail |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| An Oxford University student who was told she may avoid a custodial sentence for stabbing her boyfriend due to her "extraordinary talent" has been spared jail. | |
| Lavinia Woodward, 24, attacked her ex-boyfriend with a bread knife during a drug-fuelled rage at her university accommodation at Christ Church College, Oxford Crown Court heard. | |
| At an earlier hearing, Woodward, of Christ Church, St Aldate's, Oxford, had pleaded guilty to unlawfully wounding her partner. | |
| The offence would normally carry a custodial sentence, but Judge Ian Pringle QC previously suggested she could be spared jail because of her academic record. | |
| “It seems to me that if this was a one-off, a complete one-off, to prevent this extraordinary able young lady from not following her long-held desire to enter the profession she wishes to would be a sentence which would be too severe,” he said in May. | |
| The judge's comments were criticised at the time for being unduly lenient. | |
| On Monday, imposing a 10-month jail sentence suspended for 18 months, Judge Pringle told her: “There are many mitigating features in your case. | |
| “Principally, at the age of 24 you have no previous convictions of any nature whatsoever. | “Principally, at the age of 24 you have no previous convictions of any nature whatsoever. |
| “Secondly, I find that you were genuinely remorseful following this event and, indeed, it was against your bail conditions, you contacted your partner to fully confess your guilt and your deep sorrow for what happened. | “Secondly, I find that you were genuinely remorseful following this event and, indeed, it was against your bail conditions, you contacted your partner to fully confess your guilt and your deep sorrow for what happened. |
| “Thirdly, whilst you are a clearly highly-intelligent individual, you had an immaturity about you which was not commensurate for someone of your age.” | “Thirdly, whilst you are a clearly highly-intelligent individual, you had an immaturity about you which was not commensurate for someone of your age.” |
| On December 30, Woodward's Cambridge-educated boyfriend, who she met on the Tinder dating app, visited her in Oxford. | |
| He realised she had been drinking and contacted her mother via Skype. | |
| “When you discovered this, you became extremely angry, starting to throw objects around," the judge said. | |
| "It is clear from the transcript of the 999 call that your partner summoned the help of the police before you picked up a bread knife which was in the room and struck a blow with it to his lower leg. | |
| “In the course of the incident two of his fingers also received cuts. Your partner managed to partly restrain you, albeit then you started to turn the knife on yourself and he had to further disarm you to prevent further self-harm. | |
| “When the emergency services arrived it was abundantly clear that you were intoxicated, deeply distraught and mentally disturbed. You were taken to the police station in a very distressed state.” | |
| More follows… | More follows… |