Vicar accused of battering fiancée during lockdown row

A vicar punched and bit her fiancée in a drunken argument during lockdown after drinking glasses of wine, a court heard.

Reverend Michelle Bailey, 54, has gone on trial accused of attacking her then-partner Diane Shore, 56, at her home in Stoke-on-Trent in May 2020.

A court heard Rev Bailey had been staying with Miss Shore during the coronavirus lockdown, but their ten month relationship had "turned sour".

Miss Shore said that after going shopping Rev Bailey became "agitated" when they returned home and shared a bottle of wine over dinner.

She then began pacing the bungalow the pair had just moved into before launching an attack which "inflicted awful violence", JPs were told.

Rev Bailey denied assault by beating and causing criminal damage at North Staffordshire Justice Centre.

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Miss Bailey was allegedly punched three times before being bitten on the wrist and also had her glasses broken.

She was left with two black eyes, a split nose, her ear detached from her head, bite marks and bruises to her torso.

Giving evidence, Miss Shore told the court the pair were engaged to be married but were in an "unhappy" and "emotional" relationship.

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Rev Bailey has been suspended from her £40,000-a-year job as Priest in Charge of The Benefice of Dan Yr Epynt in the Diocese of Swansea and Brecon since the incident.

The mum-of-three previously hit the headlines in her former parish in Stewkley, Buckinghamshire, after leaving her husband for a female bull-breeder.

In a blistering sermon she likened her parishioners to a "nest of vipers" and accused them of breaking up her marriage with "poisonous" gossip.

The trial continues.