Twins, 17, ambush woman, slashing her with knife and knocking her glasses off and her hearing aid out

Teenage twins armed with a knife ambushed and attacked a mother after inviting her to their home. The exact reasons behind the attack aren't clear, Leicester Crown Court heard on Wednesday, but 17-year-old twins Mark and Millie Wimperis invited their victim to their home in Caldecote Road, Braunstone, Leicester, after an exchange of messages with the woman's daughter.

CCTV footage from a neighbour's house showed the moment the woman arrived in her car and knocked on the twins' front door only to be punched hard in the face by Mark as soon as the door was opened. She was repeatedly punched and kicked by both Mark and Millie, causing her glasses to fall off and her hearing aid to fall out onto the ground.

She suffered a broken little finger in the assault and was also slashed with a knife at some point by one of the twins, causing a wound to the centre of her back. Neighbours rushed to intervene and the woman got back in her car and drove off but she returned to the twins' home later to recover her glasses and hearing aid.

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After she got out of her car to look for the items the twins hurled glass ornaments and other objects from an upstairs window, with one of them striking her in the head. Mark then went out into the front garden with a knife in his hand and she fled again and called Leicestershire Police.

The victim's injuries included the knife wound to her back, a cut to her elbow, a black eye, bruises and swelling to other parts of her face, her wrist and her arm, a chipped tooth and a split lip. The court heard she also suffered psychological harm, becoming afraid to go outside.

After the incident, on Friday, July 7 last year, Millie sent a friend a message in which she said: "I sliced her in the back and she was bleeding loads. I wish I'd killed her."

Vasanti Vaitha, representing both twins who are now 18 and had pleaded guilty to actual bodily harm, told the judge, Recorder Thomas Moran, that she would asking him to make a community order or suspend any jail sentence. The judge told her: "At the moment I'm thinking they'll both be going to prison."

But Ms Vaitha told the judge that both twins had gone to a special school for children with emotional or behavioural difficulties and that Mark Wimperis had been without support or medication for his ADHD since he left school when he was 16. She said he was "significantly immature".

She said: "A custodial sentence would do more harm than good. Help is needed for him in the community to put him on the straight and narrow."

She said Millie Wimperis was receiving carers' allowance for looking after her grandmother, helping her on a daily basis. She said neither of the twins had any issues with drink or drugs.

The judge, sentencing the twins, said: "The background to all of this is not entirely clear. You invited her to come round but clearly not for peace talks but with trouble in mind.

"She is blameless for what happened from when she knocked on the door - she was punched and kicked while defenceless. She lost her hearing aid and glasses.

"She left but was forced to come back and when she came back ornaments were being thrown at her and one hit her in the head. You, Mark Wimperis, were waving a knife around."

He said he could suspend the jail terms in both cases because of Mark's ADHD and young age and because of Millie's young age and the fact she did not present a risk to the public, as well as the impact her imprisonment would have on her grandmother.

Mark Wimperis was given a 12-month sentence suspended for 18 months with 150 hours of unpaid work, while his sister was given a nine-month sentence suspended for 18 months with 120 hours of unpaid work. They will each have to pay £500 in compensation to their victim and were given a restraining order not to contact her for the next 10 years.