An Oxford University student who stabbed her boyfriend could be spared jail after a judge said she had an “extraordinary” talent for medicine.
Lavinia Woodward, 24, who studied at Christ Church College, Oxford, stabbed her Cambridge-educated boyfriend in the leg on December 30 last year following a row.
The pair had a drink and drug-fuelled argument, and Woodward punched and swiped at the victim with a bread knife.
She then stabbed the man before hurling a laptop, glass and a jam jar at him.
Prosecutor Cathy Olliver said Woodward met her ex-boyfriend on Tinder.
The pair had a row, and when he threatened to call Woodward’s mother, his then-girlfriend punched him before picking up a bread knife and stabbing him in the leg.
The victim, believed to be a PhD student at Cambridge University, had begun dating Woodward earlier in the term after they met on dating app Tinder.
She admitted a charge of unlawful wounding at Oxford Crown Court and Judge Ian Pringle said the offence would normally mean a custodial sentence.
But he then deferred sentencing for a period of four months and hinted that she would not be jailed – because of her ”extraordinary” talent.
He said: “It seems to me that if this was a one-off, a complete one-off, to prevent this extraordinarily able young lady from not following her long-held desire to enter the profession she wishes to, would be a sentence which would be too severe.
“What 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.”
The court was told her college will allow her to return to in October because she “is that bright” and has had articles published in medical journals.
However, she is unlikely to be able to become a surgeon as her criminal conviction would have to be disclosed, said Jim Sturman QC, defending.
Woodward’s name appears on articles published in medical journals including the Annals of Thoracic Surgery, Hypertension, and The Journal of Physiology.
Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/05/16/oxford-student-spared-jail-ex…
