Judge tells two female thugs they are neither ‘glamorous or sophisticated’
Judge tells two female thugs they are neither ‘glamorous or sophisticated’ after they hurled abuse at two love rivals and one battered them with her stilettos
- Chloe Morris and Kelsey Darby, both 24, spotted victims in a pub in late 2018
- Pair verbally abused Jessica Earp and Jodie Westwood before asked to leave
- Morris then smashed Miss Earp in the face with her heel as she left at midnight
Two female thugs were today told by a judge that they are neither ‘glamorous or sophisticated’ after one of them battered two women with her stilettos.
Chloe Morris and Kelsey Darby, both 24, were the Black Swan pub in Nuneaton, Warwickshire when they spotted women who were in new relationships with their ex-boyfriends.
The pair verbally abused Jessica Earp and Jodie Westwood, branding them ‘tramps’ and ‘slags’, before bar staff intervened on December 7, 2018.
They were ordered to leave the pub, but instead waited outside and shouted abuse at Miss Earp and Miss Westwood through the window.
When the victims left the pub at midnight Morris removed her heel and smashed Miss Earp in the face with the stiletto, leaving her with ‘puncture wounds’ across her head and face.
Chloe Morris (left) and Kelsey Darby (right), both 24, were in a pub together when they spotted the victims who were in new relationships with their ex-boyfriends
Morris then hit Miss Westwood with her other heeled shoe while Darby kneed and kicked her on the ground after she tried to defend her friend.
Morris and Darby, both of Nuneaton, admitted wounding and assault when they appeared at Warwick Crown Court on Monday.
Judge Anthony Potter spared them both prison, telling them there was ‘nothing remotely glamorous or sophisticated’ in the way they acted outside the Black Swan.
Morris was given a two-year prison sentence suspended for two years and was ordered to do 150 hours of unpaid work. She was also ordered to attend a 30-day rehabilitation programme.
Darby was sentenced to 20 months in prison suspended for 18 months and ordered to do 120 hours of unpaid work.
Both must wear electronic tags and pay the victims a total of £300.
Judge Anthony Potter said: ‘It’s plain she was waiting for these two women to come out. The removal of the shoe was a deliberate act.
‘The casualness of it is particularly shocking.
‘A stiletto shoe is intended by most woman to add an element of sophistication and glamour, but there was nothing remotely glamourous or sophisticated in the way you conducted yourselves outside the Black Swan.
‘If it was not bad enough that you Chloe Morris were intent on provoking an argument with Jessica Earp, what is worse is the way, in quite a calculating fashion, you removed your stiletto shoe and had it in your hand ready for a confrontation.
‘You did it in a casual manner which was quite chilling.
‘Anyone who thinks for a moment recognises that that heel has the capacity, when directed at someone’s head, to severely injure them.
‘If that heel had gone into someone’s eye, it would have blinded them.’
The judge added that he was suspending their sentences as a result of the case taking almost two years to come to court.
He told Darby: ‘You recognise now that the way you behaved was quite disgraceful. But although you were an enthusiastic participant, you were not the prime instigator.’
Addressing Morris he said: ‘I have no doubt in June or July 2019 you would have been going to immediate custody for the chilling way you acted.
‘It does seem to me the person I am dealing with is a very different prospect to the person who went out in December 2018 and behaved in the way you did.
‘I have just come down in favour of suspending the sentence. I have been impressed with the way you have behaved in lockdown and helped others.’
The court heard the victims suffered multiple ‘puncture wounds’ to their head and face in the ‘horrendous attack’.
Stuart Clarkson, prosecuting, said: ‘Morris attacked Jessica Earp and struck her with the stiletto shoe, using the heel to strike at her head and face.
‘She struck her a number of times, then pushed and punched her, causing her to fall to the floor where the attack continued.
‘Miss Westwood had seen her friend being attacked and went to help her and pulled Morris away, and both defendants then turned their attention to her.
‘Darby grabbed her arms and pulled her down to the ground by her hair and Morris began her attack using her other stiletto, hitting her four times to the head with the heel.’
The court heard Morris kicked her in the head and body about 15 times while Darby also booted Miss Westwood on the ground.
Mr Clarkson said: ‘Miss Westwood had multiple puncture wounds to the head and face, while Miss Earp had similar injuries to her head and was bleeding from her ear.’
Andrew Tucker, defending Darby, said she was ‘not deliberately lying in wait,’ but admitted she had ‘become involved quite enthusiastically’.
Rachel Pennington, defending Morris, said CCTV footage of the attack ‘makes difficult watching,’ but said there was ‘a wholly different side to her nature’.
