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Woman who glassed Miss England finalist in face spared jail

China Gold, left, was sentenced for wounding Olivia Cooke, right. (PA)
China Gold, left, was sentenced for wounding Olivia Cooke, right. (PA)

A woman who smashed a wine glass into a Miss England finalist’s face after a bar row has been given a suspended prison sentence.

China Gold, 28, was found guilty in March of unlawful wounding following a trial, having claimed she was acting in self-defence.

Olivia Cooke was left with terrible injuries to her face and bleeding, with glass embedded in her forehead during the incident at The Farm House pub in West Malling, Kent.

The professional golfer was rushed to hospital and needed five stitches to fix the cuts on her face. One was 5cm long.

Gold was sentenced on Friday to an 18 month suspended sentence and told to pay £7,000 in compensation.

Maidstone Crown Court heard during the trial that Gold and Cooke knew each other through a mutual friend and had been at the pub with a group of people.

China Gold arrives at court for sentencing. (PA)
China Gold arrives at court for sentencing. (PA)

Cooke, from Barming, Kent, had become upset with “crude” remarks made by Gold on 19 October 2018, the court heard.

Tearfully, Cooke told jurors that Gold started “coming at me verbally, just calling me a slag and a slut and all this, and I am definitely not”.

A general view of Maidstone Crown Court in Kent.
The trial was held at Maidstone Crown Court. (PA)

“I just tried to stick up for myself at that point. It all got a bit too much,” she said.

Jurors heard Gold grabbed her by the throat and struck her twice with the wine glass, “one to break the glass and the second one to cause injury”.

Emin Kandola, prosecuting, said: “The two open wounds over her eye were bleeding significantly in the aftermath of the incident.”

The court heard Cooke had suffered from depression and anxiety and may incur costs of £5,000 for scar therapy.

She said she also had anonymous calls made to her work and the Miss England competition about the incident, and believed it affected her future ambitions of a modelling career.

During the trial, Gold accepted that she caused Cooke’s facial injuries but said she was acting in self-defence.

Olivia Cooke arrives at Maidstone Crown Court for the sentencing of China Gold. (PA)
Olivia Cooke arrives at Maidstone Crown Court for the sentencing of China Gold. (PA)

Her barrister Robin Griffiths also questioned if Cooke had pursued Gold as the latter tried to walk away, and thrown a wine glass at Gold first, but Cooke said she did not have a glass in her hand at the time.

Sentencing, Judge Philip Statman said: “She sustained a very upsetting injury. It is a cosmetic injury as well as a loss of feeling through nerve damage … this is an ugly wound that’s occurred.”

The court heard Gold had saved money to pay compensation and expressed remorse, and has suffered with her own mental health issues.

The judge said: “At the end of this incident your victim sustained an ugly injury to her face which will leave her scarred.

“She suffered then and continues to suffer the effects of your violence.

“I am satisfied in my own mind that you do feel genuine remorse for what you have done.

“I am completely sure in my own mind that you are someone who is fragile, but on this particular evening the red mist descended upon you and you behaved in a way that was wholly unlawful.”

He added that the impact of Covid-19 on those facing or in prison was a factor to consider in sentencing.

Gold will also need to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work and was given a five year restraining order.