Complaint made against judge who refused to send Oxford University student to jail

The judge who spared an ‘intelligent’ Oxford University student from being sent to prison could be investigated, a legal watchdog has confirmed.

Lavinia Woodward, a 24-year-old medical student, was given a suspended sentence by Ian Pringle QC after attacking her partner with a bread knife in a cocaine-fuelled rage.

He said sending Woodward to prison would damage her career as a surgeon.

The Judicial Conduct Investigations Office said a complaint had been received about the case, but it was still to decide whether to launch an investigation.

‘The JCIO can confirm they have received a complaint against HHJ Ian Pringle QC,’ the office said in a statement.

‘Any findings of misconduct against judicial office holders are published on the JCIO website at the conclusion of investigations.’

A spokesman that the JCIO has no power to change the sentence imposed.

Woodward had admitted wounding Thomas Fairclough at her student accommodation at Christ Church College during an earlier hearing last December.

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She hurled a laptop, glass and a jam jar at Mr Fairclough, the court heard, after stabbing him with a bread knife.

Woodward was later admitted to a clinic for treatment for addictions to Class A drugs and alcohol, and an eating disorder.

She was subsequently given a 10-month jail sentence suspended for 18 months for inflicting unlawful wounding by Judge Pringle.

Woodward met her boyfriend, who goes to Cambridge University, on Tinder.

The sentencing prompted an outcry about inequality in the legal system regarding class and gender.

The judge further angered campaigners by claiming that the attack was a ‘complete one-off’ and that Woodward was an ‘extraordinary able young lady’, who had hoped of becoming a surgeon.

However, Mark Brooks, of the Mankind initiative which supports male victims of domestic violence, said the decision was ‘unacceptable’.

He added Woodward would have been expected to go to prison if she was a man.

Woodward is now reportedly contemplating doing a PhD abroad following the case.