A woman who tried to run her ex-partner over and later attacked him in a Devon pub, smashing a wine glass into his face, has avoided a jail sentence.
Natasha Brelsford, of Echo Crescent, Plymouth appeared at Plymouth Crown Court for sentence last week after she admitted two offences of driving a vehicle dangerously and of unlawful wounding, having denied the more serious charge of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. The guilty pleas were then accepted by the Crown Prosecution Service.
Prosecutor Michael Brown told the court that the first incident took place on Long Ley in Efford on July 5 last year while the second took place on November 17 at the Walrus public house in Athenaeum Street in Plymouth city centre.
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He said that on the evening of July 5 she was driving her Nissan Qashqui on Efford Road when she spotted her estranged husband Scott Brelsford walking on the pavement. She drove past him, then turned the car around and headed back towards him. They "engaged in an argument", which then became "physical" and Mr Brelsford then slapped her before walking away.
Mrs Brelsford then reversed her car in her estranged husband's direction, "weaving back and forth over the road", even going onto the other side of the road causing other road users to take drastic action to avoid her. She then drove onto the pavement towards Mr Brelsford revving her engine. He jumped into a nearby garden to avoid being hit. By this stage he was on the phone to police saying "she's trying to kill me, she's going to break my legs".
The court heard that Mr Brelsford then tried to hide behind a parked car which Mrs Brelsford then rammed in an attempt to get at him. A witness pulled over and was so concerned beeped his horn and let Mr Brelsford into his car. Mr Brown said the witness later told police he thought Mr Brelsford's life was in danger. He drove Mr Brelsford down Long Ley road and let him jump out to run off on foot.
He explained how the 42-year-old had by this time chased the witness' car on foot and stood in front of his vehicle. When the witness asked her to move the court heard that she "threw herself onto the bonnet of the vehicle and then laid in the road as if she had been injured".
The court was told Mr Brelsford did not provide a statement about the incident.
Five months later, in the early hours of November 17 both were at the Walrus public house in the city centre and shortly after midnight Mrs Brelsford walked up to her estranged husband in an outdoor seating area while holding a wineglass in her hand. She struck him around the face leaving him with a one-and-a-half inch wound to his face.
The incident was captured on CCTV and was played to the court. When she was subsequently arrested she initially told police "if he was your husband you'd glass him too, if that is what was supposed to have happened." However, during her police interview she remained silent.
Mr Brown explained that Mrs Brelsford had 16 previous offences to her name from June 2003 until 2022, including two offences of being carried in a vehicle without consent, two of driving otherwise in accordance with a licence, driving without insurance, driving without an MoT, and driving without a licence. As a result she was disqualified from driving for 18 months.
She also had four offences of assaulting an emergency worker to her name in 2019 and 2021.
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Judge David Evans queried the lesser section 20 wounding charge rather than the more serious section 18 wounding with intent charge. Mr Brown said the Crown had conceeded to the lesser charge on the basis it was a "short lived, impulsive act".
Judge Evans suggested Mrs Brelsford's claim that she didn't know the glass was in her hand was "just preposterous", noting the CCTV footage the court had just been shown and adding "of course she didn't forget or was unaware that she had a glass in her hand - she quite deliberately smashed the glass into his face".
Judge Evans said he was not "in the business of passing sentence of a factual absurdity" but accepted Mr Brown's point that this was what the Crown Prosecution Service had agreed to. However, he said he would not sentence her on the basis of plea as he felt this did not reflect what he had seen on the CCTV footage.
In mitigation, Michael Green said there was a package of recommendations in the pre-sentence report and the driving matters against here were "quite old". He said Mrs Brelsford had never experienced custody before and was "extremely concerned" about the prospect of jail. He conceded the Brelsfords had endured an "unhappy history" in their marriage. He explained that Mrs Brelsford recently lost her father whom she had cared for for many years, which had triggered "recent difficulties" which included mental health issues and drinking.
Sentencing Brelsford, Judge Evans noted the facts of the case, including her "amateur dramatics" when she threw herself on the witness's car and then on the ground. He added that the CCTV showed her "quite deliberately" striking him around the face "with the glass that you obviously knew you had in your hand."
He added: "I reject your basis of plea as a patent absurdity". Taking into account the aggravating and mitigating factors, along with her early guilty pleas he passed a sentence of five months for the dangerous driving and seven months for the unlawful wounding to run consecutively, totalling 12 months.
However, he added that following the sentencing guidelines and the assessment that there was a realistic prospect of rehabilitation and her lengthy period on tagged curfew and the "congested state of prisons at the moment" he felt it was appropriate to suspend the sentence for 21 months. He said there would be a supervision period of 18 months, a Rehabilitation Activity Requirement up to 20 days and an alcohol abstinance monitoring requirement for 60 days.
He said Brelsford would also be disqualified for 12 months and would have to pass an extended test before she could legally take to the road again.
He also ordered her to pay £150 costs.
