Sword attack woman is spared jail again
A woman who attacked an innocent man with an imitation samurai sword in front of his parents has been spared jail for a second time by top judges.
Laura Lyn Mahoney, aged 29, had been drinking and was suffering from mental health problems when she lashed out.
She launched into 21-year-old Stuart Howarth with a 10in blade on his parents' front doorstep in September last year. Mahoney, of Wychwood Crescent, Sheldon, Birmingham, demanded that his parents rouse him out of bed.
She then accused him of stealing her brother's bike and inflicted a cut with the sword which required hospital treatment.
The mother of one had been prescribed medication for her mental health but had not been taking it in the period leading up the attack. There was no suggestion that Mr Howarth had in reality been involved in any wrongdoing.
Mahoney was handed a two-year suspended sentence at Birmingham Crown Court in April, having already been in jail on remand for six months.
She previously pleaded guilty to wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. Her sentence was attacked as far too soft by the Attorney General, Jeremy Wright QC, at London's Appeal Court.
The Birmingham judge had been 'unduly lenient' and Mahoney should have been given an immediate jail term, it was argued.
But the court refused to increase Mahoney's punishment.
Lawyers for her said she was now back on her medication and making good progress.
Lord Justice Lloyd Jones, said: "
She has already served the equivalent of a 12-month prison sentence. We have come to the conclusion that the sentence imposed, whilst lenient, was not unduly lenient and the application is refused."
