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| Lavinia Woodward: Oxford student spared jail after stabbing boyfriend 'may be able to return to her studies' | Lavinia Woodward: Oxford student spared jail after stabbing boyfriend 'may be able to return to her studies' |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| An Oxford University student who was spared jail after stabbing her ex-boyfriend may be allowed to return to her studies. | |
| Lavinia Woodward, a medical student and aspiring heart surgeon, attacked her ex-boyfriend with a bread knife at her university accommodation at Christ Church College. | Lavinia Woodward, a medical student and aspiring heart surgeon, attacked her ex-boyfriend with a bread knife at her university accommodation at Christ Church College. |
| The offence would normally carry a custodial sentence, but Judge Ian Pringle QC handed down a 10-month suspended sentence in September, saying: “You are a clearly highly intelligent individual, you had an immaturity about you which was not commensurate for someone of your age.” | |
| Now it has emerged the 24-year-old will be allowed to suspend her studies for 18 months at one of the university’s richest colleges, thereby delaying any disciplinary hearing against her. | |
| A staff panel will only be able to consider whether she should be expelled once she states her desire to return. | A staff panel will only be able to consider whether she should be expelled once she states her desire to return. |
| Christ Church revealed in May that it warned Woodward that “any more drug-taking, or misconduct of any other kind, would indeed result in expulsion” after it was discovered she had been taking cocaine last September. | Christ Church revealed in May that it warned Woodward that “any more drug-taking, or misconduct of any other kind, would indeed result in expulsion” after it was discovered she had been taking cocaine last September. |
| Reports that Woodward might be able to return to her studies were dismissed by a university spokesman at the time, who told The Sunday Times the comments “were the judge’s not the college’s”. | Reports that Woodward might be able to return to her studies were dismissed by a university spokesman at the time, who told The Sunday Times the comments “were the judge’s not the college’s”. |
| They added that there was “no guarantee of a return” and emphasised “the context is obviously extremely serious”. | |
| The judge’s decision to spare Woodward jail sparked heavy criticism, with many questioning whether the same action would have been taken if the defendant had come from a less privileged background. | |
| Martyn Percy, dean of Christ Church, told The Sunday Times: “I do not think [Woodward] is getting special treatment.” | |
| Lawyers for Woodward said: “The disciplinary process at Oxford is for the proctors ... In due course that process will no doubt be concluded.” |