By Staff Reporter

Last updated at 13:33, Monday, 14 January 2013

A university student saw her future in tatters after kicking a woman in the face.

Georgia Winter, 20, had hoped for a career in the probation service but a judge at Carlisle Crown Court told her she had little hope of that now that she had a criminal conviction for violence.

Winter – who handed the court a sheaf of character references including one from Lord Bragg and other leading figures in the Wigton area – nodded as Recorder Kevin Grice said her appearance in the dock had been an “absolute catastrophe” for her.

“The fact that you got involved in all this remains incredible to those who know you,” he said.

“You are otherwise a hard-working, decent young woman who had a very promising career ahead of her.

“I hope that your career will still have promise, but it may well be that this conviction will blight it. That could be your greatest punishment.”

Prosecuting counsel Mark Lamberty told the court Winter had been walking down an arcade with Carl Filby, 19, when he spat in the face of previous girlfriend Isla Kennedy who was coming the other way.

Filby walked on – “in cowardly fashion,” the judge said – but Ms Kennedy grabbed Winter by the hair and they ended up on the ground.

Winter kicked her once “very hard” in the face, leaving her with a broken nose which has already required one operation and will need another next month.

Winter, whose address was listed as St Andrews Gardens, Liverpool, where she is in her second year at university, pleaded guilty to a charge of unlawful wounding.

In mitigation, defence barrister Erimnaz Mushtaq said Winter had not started the violence.

Ms Mushtaq said Winter came from a respectable family who could not believe what she had done.

“She can’t believe it either,” she said. She said she now had “no hope” of pursuing her dream of working in the probation service, and had already given up a work placement for which she had been one of six students ‘handpicked’.

Winter was given a 10-month prison sentence, suspended for 18 months, and ordered to do 150 hours unpaid community work.

Filby, of Webster Crescent, Carlisle, pleaded guilty to common assault on Ms Kennedy by spitting at her.

He was ordered to do 100 hours unpaid community work and pay £100 compensation to his ex-girlfriend.

First published at 13:31, Monday, 14 January 2013
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk