‘Ten out of ten drunk’ woman avoids jail after smashing glass into stranger’s face while flirting with him in Devon bar
Boozed-up Alice Walpole avoided jail despite pleading guilty to grievous bodily harm at Exeter Crown Court
A BOOZED-up marine biologist who smashed a glass into a stranger’s face after flirting with him in a bar avoided jail yesterday.
Alice Walpole, 24, downed pints of cider and glasses of rum and coke before meeting victim Julian Simms for the first time.
They were seen at the Tomato Bar in Tiverton, Devon, on CCTV laughing together, dancing and playing air guitar just seconds before she pushed her glass into his face causing serious cuts and narrowly missing his left eye.
The attack, which footage showed to be completely unprovoked, happened as Simms turned to talk to a friend who tapped him on the shoulder.
He was rushed to hospital for treatment to a heavily bleeding cut on his forehead, and was still suffering double vision two months later.
Oceanographer Walpole, who works at Bristol Aquarium, was horrified when she was shown the footage by police.
She said she was "ten out of ten" on a scale of drunkenness and could remember nothing.
Walpole, of Oakford, Devon, admitted causing grievous bodily harm and was jailed for 14 months, suspended for a year, and ordered to do 150 hours unpaid work and pay £1,500 compensation by Recorder Rufus Taylor at Exeter Crown Court.
He told her: "You had a great deal to drink and got chatting to the victim and you got on very well all night.
"There is no suggestion he was in any way to blame or provoked you or said or did anything inappropriate.
"I have seen the photographs of his facial scarring which runs in a straight line down the forehead to the left eyebrow.
"It is a matter of luck he was not blinded in his left eye and the prognosis of his sight is uncertain.
"This was unprovoked at a bar at night when you were drunk. However, you are young and of positive good character and indicated in your interview how remorseful you are."
A pre-sentence report said Walpole was not a heavy drinker but on the night had two pints of cider, four or five rum and cokes and some shots.
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She was anxious and depressed at the time because of a family illness and drank far more than she should have done.
Her work at an aquarium made her unsuitable for a curfew because she was on call at all hours and could not wear a tag because she sometimes had to dive into deep fish tanks.