Flanked by a female security guard, she wept and dabbed her eyes with a tissue as the judge sentenced her to 10 months in prison, suspended for 18 months.<\/p>\n
Defense lawyer James Sturman urged the judge to give Woodward a conditional discharge due to her \u201cunique vulnerability, remorse and good character.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cShe can\u2019t even go to a nightclub in London, she\u2019s so recognizable.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Judge Ian Pringle previously said a custodial sentence may be \u201ctoo severe\u201d because it could ruin Woodward\u2019s promising medical career after she admitted to unlawfully wounding Cambridge University student Thomas Fairclough.<\/p>\n
On Monday the judge said: \u201cFortunately the wounds your partner received were relatively minor. The two [half-inch] cuts to the fingers were treated at the scene and the cut to the leg was closed with three stitches.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the time of the offense, you were heavily under the influence of alcohol. You were old enough and intelligent enough to realize that overindulgence would severely affect your behavior.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have no previous convictions of any nature whatsoever. I find that you were genuinely remorseful following this event.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMost significantly, you have demonstrated over the last nine months that you are determined to rid yourself of your addiction and have undergone extensive treatment and counseling.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have demonstrated to me a strong, unwavering determination to do so despite enormous pressure under which you were put.\u201d<\/p>\n
The court heard that Woodward broke her bail conditions by contacting Fairclough to apologize for stabbing him, but the judge praised her for doing this.<\/p>\n
He also commended her \u201cstrong and unwavering determination\u201d to address her issues in the face of enormous public pressure.<\/p>\n
When the judge told her she was free to go, Woodward mouthed the words \u201cThank you\u201d and hurried from the dock in a flood of tears.<\/p>\n
Her family told her to keep her \u201chead held high\u201d as she left court, making no comment.<\/p>\n
She grinned as she ran out of the courtroom to celebrate her freedom.<\/p>\n
The court heard she attempted suicide in police custody on the night of her arrest and was fired from a job she took at a shop in London 48 hours after being hired when she was recognized by a custoer.<\/p>\n
Adv<\/em>.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n While on bail, she spent four weeks in a secure drug rehabilitation center and doctors\u2019 reports confirm she has stayed clean.<\/p>\n She also took off to spend summer enjoying a luxury lifestyle in the Italian fashion capital of Milan.<\/p>\n In a bid to get away from scrutiny, she stayed at her family\u2019s $2 million villa near the city and was often seen carrying a $1,350 Chanel bag.<\/p>\n She spent her days browsing in clothing stores or having her hair done.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat you did will never, I know, leave you but it was pretty awful, and normally it would attract a custodial sentence, whether it is immediate or suspended,\u2019\u2019 Pringle said.<\/p>\n Woodward stabbed Fairclough in the leg with a bread knife and hurled a laptop, glass and jam jar at him when they argued.<\/p>\n Prosecutor Cathy Olliver said Woodward met her ex, a Cambridge doctoral student, on Tinder.<\/p>\n She said on Sept. 30, 2016, the night of the attack, they argued and Woodward\u2019s behavior \u201cdeteriorated.\u201d<\/p>\n When Fairclough threatened to contact Woodward\u2019s mom on Skype, the 24-year-old attacked him.<\/p>\n Sturman said his client\u2019s dreams of becoming a surgeon were \u201calmost impossible\u201d as her conviction would have to be disclosed.<\/p>\n At a hearing in May, the judge hinted he would show leniency to the \u201cextraordinarily able young lady\u201d because her actions appeared to be \u201ca complete one-off.\u201d<\/p>\n At the time, Pringle told Woodward: \u201cIt seems to me that if this was a one-off, a complete one-off, to prevent this extraordinarily able young lady from following her long-held desire to enter the [medical] profession she wishes to would be a sentence which would be too severe.\u201d<\/p>\n He delayed sentence as he did not want to ruin her chances of a successful career.<\/p>\n Woodward was slapped with a restraining order and told to stay drug-free and not to re-offend before returning to court for sentencing Monday.<\/p>\n Following the hearing, Mark Brooks, chairman of the Mankind Initiative, which supports male victims of domestic abuse, said the judge\u2019s comments would make it more difficult for men to come forward for fear of not being taken seriously.<\/p>\n Brooks said: \u201cThe judge\u2019s comments are completely unacceptable and out of touch. This is a clear case of severe domestic abuse against a man and the focus and sympathy should be with him.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe judge seems to think that domestic abuse, when it is committed by a woman against a man, is not as serious as it rightly is when it is the other way round.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis is wrong. It only serves to reinforce society\u2019s continuing empathy gap between male and female victims and the message the judge sends is that this is right.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt also makes it harder for men to come forward and get help because many fear not being taken seriously when they do \u2014 just because they are a man. This does nothing to change that view.\u201d<\/p>\n It emerged earlier this year that Woodward had stripped naked with her Oxford pals in support of the university\u2019s LGBTQ society.<\/p>\n An image showing Woodward perched on the lap of a naked man was exposed soon after a judge said he would not jail Woodward for stabbing Fairclough.<\/p>\n Friends said she turned \u201cdark\u201d and posted the nude selfies on Facebook after getting hooked on drugs.<\/p>\n A former school pal told the Sun: \u201cAfter she went to Oxford, she turned weird. She became all dark and gothic and it was obvious she was into drugs.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt quickly got around that she was hooked on cocaine and, in a bid to beat it, went into rehab.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cShe posted naked pictures of herself on Facebook which was completely out of character for the girl I went to school with.\u201d<\/p>\n The court heard Woodward had a \u201cvery troubled life,\u201d battling addiction and suffering abuse by another ex.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n\n An Oxford University student dubbed \u201ctoo clever to go to prison\u201d has walked free after stabbing her ex-boyfriend in a drug-fueled frenzy \u2014 but moaned that she can\u2019t go clubbing without being recognized. Aspiring heart surgeon Lavinia Woodward ran out of court with a big smile on her face Monday after being handed a suspended sentence. Wearing …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":51053,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[38],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n\r\n \t
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