A mum who slashed two security guards with a Stanley knife after trying to steal children's clothes wept as she was sent to prison. Claire Newman left David Bailey needing 20 stitches in his arm, while she also injured his colleague Ian Grogan's hand.
The 34-year-old attacked the security guards at the Next store on New Mersey Shopping Park, in Liverpool, just over a month after twice stealing designer handbags from Selfridges in Manchester. She was jailed yesterday (May 31) following all three offences.
Prosecuting, Jonathan Duffy told Liverpool Crown Court that the two Next security guards had managed to stop Newman leaving the store, and wanted to take a picture of her so she could be banned from entering the shop again. But Newman soon became aggressive, the Liverpool Echo reports.
Mr Duffy said: “She shouted that she would stab David Bailey and it transpired that she had a Stanley knife on her person and she stabbed Mr Bailey, causing him a nasty injury on his forearm.” Newman also caused a scratch on Mr Bailey’s jaw and bit his other arm.
In the scuffle, she also caught Mr Grogan with the knife. Newman later admitted wounding Mr Bailey with intent and wounding Mr Grogan without intent.
She also pleaded guilty to theft and possession of a bladed article. Mr Bailey required 20 stitches to his arm and Mr Grogan required eight stitches in his hand.
Both men said the incident had made them and their colleagues more nervous about doing their jobs. Newman was also sentenced today for crimes committed in Manchester six weeks before the attacks in Next.
She stole designer handbags from Selfridges in Manchester on February 1 and February 7 this year. Caught by staff the second time, she then assaulted a security guard trying to escort her from the premises.
Kate Morley, defending, said Newman was addicted to Class A drugs and had begun to steal to try to address debts. Ms Morley said Newman, a mum of three, had only one conviction as a 16-year-old and had then gone through 18 years of her life without offending.
She went through a miscarriage in 2016 and her partner took his own life in the aftermath. She then became addicted to drugs and, while she was able to address her addiction, the death of her father a few years later caused her to relapse and try heroin for the first time.
Faced with footage of what she had done to Mr Bailey and Mr Grogan, Ms Morley said: “She is sickened, disgusted and deeply distressed by the person on that screen. She does not recognise herself.”
She added: “Her reason for carrying that blade was for removing clothing tags. It was not intended to be used as a weapon - but of course when one carries weapons it is a choice and they could be used that way.
The judge, Denis Watson QC, said that while Newman may have not taken the blade out with the intention to injure someone with it, it was clear by the time she slashed Mr Bailey she knew how she was using it. Sentencing her, he said: “Although I am told the reason for you carrying the blade was to remove security tags, it was there.
"You threatened to stab Mr Bailey with the Stanley knife and then you carried that threat out.” He continued: “I cannot accept the submission that you lashed out wildly, you lashed out purposefully.”
Newman, of HMP Styal, was jailed for six years and five months.
