Student, 22, sobs as she’s found NOT GUILTY of threatening to stab a BABY on packed Tube train
Millicent Barnes, 22, was accused of threatening to stab Geraldine Brannigan's daughter after the child allegedly kicked her leg in a packed train carriage on the London Underground
A STUDENT sobbed as she was today found not guilty of threatening to knife a 15-month-old baby after the tot allegedly kicked her leg in a packed Tube carriage.
Millicent Barnes, 22, was accused of telling Geraldine Brannigan she had a blade in her bag as she boarded the rush-hour train at Bank Tube station.
The University of Northampton student allegedly threatened Ms Brannigan while her dad was pushing the buggy onto the carriage.
Barnes, who has thousands of followers on Instagram and Twitter, was arrested after British Transport Police released CCTV of the incident on July 18.
Ms Brannigan was out celebrating her brother's graduation with eight of her family members when they were separated getting on the train.
It was claimed Barnes became abusive after Ms Brannigan's baby kicked her on the leg.
Ms Brannigan tearfully told City of London Magistrates' Court: "She said, she did not give a f**k about the baby, and she will stab it."
But in her police interview Barnes said the incident had nothing to do with the baby kicking her and denied threatening or harming the infant.
Giving evidence Barnes told the court the row began when the pram was pushed into her knee - and insisted it was Ms Brannigan who said she had a knife in her bag.
She said: "I was going to Shepherd's Bush television studio to watch the Big Narstie television show.
"I was with the family and my friend. I was wearing a low 'v' white top, jeans and sliders and a bag.
"As I was standing on the train he (the father of Ms Brannigan) has rammed the wheel of the pram into my knee and my knee has dipped. I have a hip condition.
"I have said, 'You have hit me in the back of my leg twice now can you apologise please? And he said 'I am not apologising".
"He rammed it onto my foot that was on the train. The baby was sleeping. Originally, I only saw the man, baby and what seemed to be his son.
"At this point I did not see anybody it was just the two males and the baby. I was very, very calm, extremely calm, until after I got threatened. That is when I changed.
"The brother (of Ms Brannigan) threatened me. He said, 'Stop talking to my dad like that or I am going to do you in' and he had his fist clenched.
"I thought he was going to punch me in the face. I was confused as to why I was being threatened after all I did was ask for an apology.
"I got angry straight away, why am I being threatened when I got hurt on the train by somebody who is a bigger form to me as well?"
Barnes added: "She popped up (Ms Brannigan) I don't remember seeing her until the train was already moving.
"She had a bag crossed over her. She moved in front and she is fumbling inside her bag and she says: 'I have got a knife in my bag' and I said you better use it then.
"Where I grew up you don't make an empty threat. You don't say you have a knife for no reason.
"I felt like it was a racist attack. I am just saying if I were a white person and I asked them to apologise they would have apologised."
Barnes denied threatening the baby with the knife but admitted being confrontational and saying: "I don't give a f*** about the baby".
Finding her not guilty of using threatening or abusive language Magistrate Ian Leuder said: "It is clear to us on the evidence there was a nasty altercation between you, Ms Barnes and various members of Ms Barnes' family.
"The result was fear of violence from Ms Brannigan emanating from you.
"We did not consider that this was your intention, we therefore find that the case has not been proved beyond reasonable doubt."
Emma Foubister, defending Barnes, said: "This incident was an argument on the Tube in rush hour.
";Undoubtedly, the defendant was angry and she accepts that she was confrontational.
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"She did not have a knife or threaten to use a knife. She did not intended to make anyone, in particular Ms Brannigan and her baby, believe that she would cause her harm.
"The prosecution theory, that Ms Barnes was taking this out on the baby simply because she believed she was kicked by the baby simply does not sit well with the evidence.
"We have also heard today that Ms Barnes hit and spat — that is simply not corroborated in any of the statements heard today.
"Ms Barnes' intentions were only to defend herself against threats from others.
"It is extremely unlikely that Ms Brannigan believed she would be the victim of some kind of assault when she was on a packed train surrounded by her family, when Ms Barnes was on her own."
Barnes wept as she left court.
Following the incident, Barnes tweeted her 5,000 followers from her Twitter account @m_ldnn_, saying: "i may be mad, i may have a temper but if you know me, you know that i would NEVER do that."
She also claimed that she was the victim of a verbal attack, tweeting: "after being verbally assaulted, i'm not going to stand there like a fool. i'm gonna react."
Barnes, of Sidmouth House, Lindsey Estate, Peckham, southeast London, denied one count of using threatening or abusive language and was cleared.
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