A mother stabbed two security guards as they tried to prevent her from stealing children’s clothing from a Liverpool Next store.
Claire Newman cut David Bailey with a Stanley knife at the chain’s New Mersey Shopping Park store, leaving him in need of 20 stitches in his arm. Bailey’s teammate Ian Grogan was also injured by Newman after he injured his hand with the blade.
The 34-year-old has been crying today when a judge jailed her for the March 9 attacks and a couple of robberies in which she stole designer handbags from Manchester Selfridges and also assaulted a security guard there.
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Jonathan Duffy, a prosecutor, said Mr. Bailey and Grogan saw Newman stealing baby clothes at the Speke store and managed to keep him from walking away. The couple did not plan to call police and wanted to take a picture of Newman so she could be banned from the store. However, after initially following them, Newman became aggressive and agitated.
Duffy said, “He shouted that he would stab David Bailey and it turned out he had a Stanley knife in his person and stabbed Mr. Bailey, causing a nasty wound to his forearm.” Newman also scratched Mr. Bailey’s jaw and bit his other arm. In the fight, he also caught Mr. Grogan with a knife.
Newman later admitted to intentionally injuring Mr. Bailey and intentionally injuring Mr. Grogan. He also pleaded guilty to theft and possession of a leaf article. Mr. Bailey required 20 stitches in his arm and Mr. Grogan required eight stitches in his hand.
The two men said the incident had made them and their colleagues more nervous to do their job. Newman was also convicted today of crimes committed in Manchester six weeks before the Next attacks. He stole designer bags from Selfridges in Manchester on 1 and 7 February this year. Trapped by staff for the second time, she then assaulted a security guard who was trying to hear her off the premises.
Kate Morley, on defense, said Newman was addicted to class A drugs and had started stealing to try to deal with debts. Ms. Morley said Newman, a mother of three, only had a sentence when she was 16 and then spent 18 years of her life without offending.
She had a miscarriage in 2016 and then her partner committed suicide. She then became addicted to drugs, and although she was able to tackle her addiction, her father’s death a few years later caused her to relapse and test heroin for the first time.
Faced with images of what she had done to Mr. Bailey and Mr. Grogan, Ms. Morley said, “She’s sick, upset, and deeply distressed by the person on this screen. She doesn’t recognize herself.” He added: “His reason for carrying this blade was to remove the labels from his clothes. It was not intended to be used as a weapon, but of course, when a weapon holder is an option and could be used from way.
Judge Denis Watson, QC, said that while Newman may not have removed the blade with the intent of injuring someone with it, it was clear that when he cut Bailey he knew how he was using it. Condemning her, she said, “Even though I was told the reason you brought the blade was to remove the security tags, it was there. You threatened to stab Mr. Bailey with the Stanley knife and then you took it. “I can’t accept the submission you savagely attacked, you attacked on purpose.”
HMP Styal’s Newman was jailed for six years and five months.
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