Drunken woman repeatedly punched her partner in face and spat at her after she asked her to have a wash

Northampton Crown Court heard how Sophie Beard, of The Embankment, Wellingborough, had been with her partner since 2021. In May 2022 the woman tried to split up with Beard as she was no longer happy.

But Beard sent a series of messages to her former partner to persuade her to resume their relationship and the woman reluctantly went back, despite there being some previous aggression meted-out by Beard.

Recorder Shamim Qureshi heard that on July 14 this year the defendant returned home from a funeral and was ‘drunk and sweaty’, and ‘all over’ the victim. She asked her to have a wash but Beard turned nasty.

The victim retreated into her bedroom but the 32-year-old walked in and pulled her off the bed onto the floor.

She punched her, kicked her and pulled her hair.

She spat in the victim’s face several times and repeatedly hit her while she tried to call a friend to pick her up.

The court heard she suffered a black eye, cuts and bruises to her face and marks on her neck and arms.

Beard pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

The victim still suffers flashbacks and and aggravation of previous muscle damage in her arm. She has had to move hundreds of miles away in order to come to terms with what happened.

Mitigating, Paul Webb said that his client was of previous good character and that both women had been participants in a relationship that was ‘toxic’.

Beard was given 32 weeks in prison, suspended for two years and ordered to complete 30 rehabilitation activity days as well as undergo mental health treatment. She was also told to pay £300 in costs and a surcharge of £187.