Reveller 'lucky not to be blinded' by girl's kick to face inside Notts nightspot

A reveller had her eye socket fractured when she was kicked to the face as she lay on the floor in a Nottinghamshire nightclub. Nottingham Crown Court heard how she was attacked by drunk teenagers Isobel Sladen and Ella Gilbert who carried out the assault during an ongoing dispute over a boy.

Weeks earlier, the same victim had been punched twice to the face by Gilbert in a different bar but did not make a complaint to the police. And in a victim impact statement, she told how she has suffered a partial loss of sight and has been told the effects will remain for another two years.

Sentencing the women, Judge Julie Warburton said: “This incident arose from a dispute between one of you and (the victim) who was in a relationship with a boy and was also seeing a friend of one of yours. This, therefore, was not your quarrel and you would have been very wise to have stayed out if it.

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“On March 11, 2023, in the Blindspot in Mansfield, one of you punched her to the face and that was absolutely inexcusable, but she did not complain at that point. Then, on April 4, she was in the Lexis Nightclub, also in Mansfield, and at around 3.30am you, Miss Sladen, started trouble and pushed her into the bar.

“A heated argument followed and there was a further push and you, Miss Sladen, grabbed her and flung her to the ground. Her friend was then attacked and, while one of them was on the ground, you delivered a sharp kick to their face.

“I have seen the CCTV, it was quite deliberate and the two of you were then dragged away by the staff and when you were you did not cover yourselves in any glory.

“(The victim) went to hospital where it was found she had suffered a left orbital fracture and a bleed to her eye. You are lucky you did not blind this young woman and saying you did not intend to cause the injuries you did is like someone smashing a glass in someone’s face and saying you did not intend to cut them.”

The two incidents took place in March and April, last year, and neither woman has any previous convictions or cautions, the sentencing hearing was told.

Sladen, 20, of Willow Gardens, Sutton-in-Ashfield, pleaded guilty to assault occasioning grievous bodily harm and assault. She was handed a 14-month jail term, suspended for 18 months, with 180 hours unpaid work and 15 rehabilitation sessions.

Laura Hocknell, her barrister, said: “I don’t want to resort to cliché, but this offending has been a wake-up call for her. She is no longer going out and drinking to excess and she is now in work with three jobs.

“She works one night in a local convenience store, one might in her parent’s shop and is about to begin a job as a receptionist at Arnold Clark (a second-hand car dealership) working weekends. This is the first time she has been before the courts.”

Gilbert, also 20, of Outram Street, Sutton-in-Ashfield, pleaded guilty to two counts of assault and was handed a 12-month community order, with 100 hours unpaid work and 12 rehabilitation sessions.

Leanne Summers, mitigating, said her client works for a healthcare company. She said: “She is remorseful, she felt ashamed when she saw herself in the footage. It is clear that alcohol has underpinned her behaviour.”

As well as their sentences, the duo were handed five-year restraining orders not to contact either victim and to each pay £200 compensation to the woman whose face was kicked in the nightclub.