EX-LOVER'S HAMMER ATTACK LEADS TO CONDITIONAL DISCHARGE IN BLACKBURN
A woman named Penny Smith, aged 24 and residing on Monmouth Road, Blackburn, committed an attack by taking a hammer to the front door of a house in Romney Walk, Blackburn, where her former best friend Joanne Petrie and her ex-partner Mark Smith had recently moved in.The incident occurred while a baby was sleeping in a pram in the hallway.
Penny Smith pleaded guilty to damaging the front door and was given a conditional discharge for 12 months.
The magistrates decided not to impose any order for costs or compensation after hearing that she felt abandoned by her former partner.
During proceedings, prosecutor Tom Snape explained that Penny Smith had been repeatedly contacting Joanne Petrie, asking to speak to her ex-boyfriend.
On the day of the incident, Penny Smith was heard shouting and screaming outside Petrie's house at around 7:30 pm, and she was described by Petrie as 'hysterical,' with Petrie noting she was 'very frightened.' After the attack, Smith left the scene and attended the police station the following day, claiming her head was 'not clear' at the time and she had no specific intentions.
Her defense lawyer Kevin Preston highlighted that Smith has three young children, including a ten-month-old, and that Mark Smith was her 'common law husband' before he left her to set up with her former best friend, Joanne Petrie.
