It's undoubtedly more usual to see men locked up for violence - but women are no strangers to the courts for physical aggression.
Often erupting after petty rows or because of jealousy, these violent attacks have shocked the courts (and our readers) with their spite and brutality.
This week, our readers were left outraged after Patricia McGrath was handed a suspended sentence for a ‘disgraceful’ racist attack on a woman in front of her son.
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In a moving statement, the woman said her four-year-old was massively impacted and asks her: “Mummy, when are you going to get better?”
Our reporters are in court every single day. Here, the Manchester Evening News looks back on the disturbing offences which have landed ten women in the dock.
Patricia McGrath
Vile racist Patricia McGrath was handed a suspended sentence for a ‘disgraceful’ attack on a woman in front of her four-year-old son. The 43-year-old became aggressive with the mum who overheard her telling a child: “You call him a monkey mate, he does look like a monkey”.
The woman told her not to condone the behaviour, but McGrath began swearing at her before choking her. During a struggle as the woman tried to push her off, McGrath punched her to the face and bit her arm, Minshull Street Crown Court heard.
She then ‘mocked her’ by hitting her on the head before calling her numerous racist slurs including ‘monkey’ and ‘Bl*ck c***’. After the attack, the woman went to hospital where she received treatment for the bitemark which had broken the skin, along with cuts and bruises to her face and hands.
In an emotional victim personal statement, the woman said her life had completely changed after the attack. She said she had a breakdown as a direct result and now suffers with depression, anxiety and PTSD.
“Prior to the incident I was happy, bubbly, full of life and full of love,” the former social worker said. “Following the incident I returned to work but felt a deterioration in my mental health. How can you advise people who are suicidal whilst figuring out how to end your own life?”
She said she has since lost her job. She said the biggest impact had been on her young son who asks her: “Mummy, when are you going to get better?”
“I have seen him angrily shout ‘monkey’ at his toys and me, and I have had to explain to him that sometimes people aren’t going to like him simply because of the colour of his skin,” she said.
“He did not need to learn about racism, certainly not in the manner he did - he did not need to hear any of it.”
McGrath, of Gwladys Street, Stalybridge, was handed a prison sentence of 18 months suspended for 18 months, ordered to complete a Thinking Skills Programme, 20 days of rehabilitation activity requirements and 150 hours unpaid work after admitting racially aggravated harassment, assault by beating, and separate offences of dangerous driving and driving whilst disqualified.
Charlotte Dootson
A case that sent shockwaves across the country in May involved Charlotte Dootson, who murdered her boyfriend after tying him up and strangling him with an extension lead.
Dootson, 25, went on to send a picture of 53-year-old Mohammed Mukhtar to her new man while he was bound by his hands, feet and neck with extension leads.
He was tied up for more than two hours before she killed him. Mr Mukhtar, described as being 'harmless' and 'vulnerable', had suffered domestic abuse at Dootson's hand for years.
She had repeatedly attacked him during a campaign of cruelty, and at the time she murdered him, Dootson, a former drug addict with a personality disorder, was under investigation for allegedly strangling him with a cable extension.
Prior to killing him, she also either kicked or stamped on him and caused a life threatening injury to his liver. Dootson, of no fixed address, has been jailed for life, with a minimum of 22-and-a-half years to serve, after admitting murdering Mr Mukhtar, known to his family as Amin, in his own flat in Miles Platting.
A judge said Dootson's behaviour was 'not far from sadistic'. "The manner of Mohammed Mukhtar's death, his humiliation and prolonged suffering, taken together with the history of abuse, are significant factors that increase the seriousness of this offence very nearly to that level," Judge Patrick Field QC said at a Manchester Crown Court.
For the full story, click here.
Summer Downie
Summer Downie was one of a group of drunk teenagers who launched a violent, unprovoked attack on a taxi rank. During the attack they threw bottles and bricks and spat at workers.
Downie and Wiktor Ostrowski, both 18, turned up at the office in Chorlton claiming they had tried to ring in after believing they left their phone.
In April, Manchester Crown Court heard that they both pushed into the office and came towards the dispatcher and pushed him. He was hit to the face and pushed them both back in an attempt to protect himself.
A scuffle ensued, and when the taxi operators managed to push them outside of the office, Downie and Ostrowski started kicking the door.
More people arrived and began attacking the operators, throwing glass bottles and spitting at them.
The staff could hear things hitting the window that sounded like ‘pebbles or bottles’, the court heard. They then saw Downie throw a brick which smashed the window. A minute later another brick came through.
When the police arrived, the group started running away, though Ostrowski remained and said to one officer: “Handcuff me officer, please arrest me.” They replied: “What am I doing that for?” And he said: “You’re obviously here for me coz I’m involved.”
Downie attempted to run twice, but was arrested and said: “I threw the bottle, yeah I bricked the window. I did fight some guy on the floor. I did put a brick through the window. I know I did wrong that’s why I ran.”
Both Downie, of Parrswood Road, Withington , and Ostrowski, of Horton Road, Fallowfield , were handed a 30 month community order (two-and-a-half years), 25 days of rehabilitation activity requirements and 200 hours unpaid work after pleading guilty to affray. They must also both pay £200 compensation.
Zara Robertson
Mum Zara Robertson launched a horrendous meat cleaver attack on her friend following a petty row over £20. Robertson, 36, hit her pal over the head several times with the fearsome weapon.
The friends, who lived on the same street in Miles Platting , had been drinking together in the hours leading up to the shocking incident.
Robertson had agreed to lend her friend £20. Shortly after, she left Robertson to visit a relative, but returned back at her home at about 9pm on March 19 last year.
Robertson became 'agitated' and demanded the £20 back, and she called a taxi to take them to a nearby cash point. Her friend refused to get in and as she walked back to her home, there was a 'scuffle' as Robertson tried to force her in to the car, prosecutors told Manchester Crown Court .
Suddenly she realised that Robertson had armed herself with a meat cleaver, before she was hit four or five times to the head with the weapon causing heavy bleeding. "Get my money," Robertson said after the attack.
As she left the scene, Robertson said: "I'll go down for murder for her, I'll kill her." Robertson, previously of Canada Street, Miles Platting, pleaded guilty to wounding with intent and racially aggravated harassment. She was sentenced to five years and 10 months in prison.
Chelsea Leary, Emma Daly and Valerie Daly
Sisters Emma, 25, and Valerie, 21, and Valerie’s then girlfriend Leary, 20, were walking along Market Street when they came across the woman talking to a friend who was sleeping rough in a tent.
As the woman knelt down at the tent opening, Valerie charged at her, hit her to the back of the head and dragged her backwards by the hood before the three of them launched a ‘vicious’ attack upon her.
In CCTV footage played to Manchester Crown Court , Valerie, of Harpurhey, repeatedly punched the woman to the face and dragged her to the ground, Emma ‘stamped’ on her head and body, and Leary punched her and kicked her once.
The incident which took place at around 2am on November 20 came to a brief stop when the three girls walked away, allowing the woman to walk in the opposite direction.
“As the footage shows, Emma Daly can then be seen running back to the scene and kicking and punching the woman again as she goes to the ground,” prosecutor Eleanor Myers said.
Emma Daly, Valerie Daly and Chelsea Leary later pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
Valerie Daly, of Monsall Road, and Emma Daly, of Heywood Street, were both jailed for 14 months imprisonment in December last year.
Leary, of Gratrix Road, Ordsall, was handed 12 months imprisonment which was suspended for two years, a three month electronically monitored curfew between 8pm and 7am, 15 days of rehabilitation activity requirements and sessions at the Women’s Problem Solving Court.
Rebecca Chisnall
Rebecca Chisnall “ragged” her love rival up and down the street in a "prolonged and persistent" assault. The 23-year-old, of Newton Road, Parr in St Helens, near Wigan, was jailed for 16 months in May after admitting assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
Liverpool Crown Court heard there had been a ‘long-standing animosity’ between Chisnall and the victim, mum-of-two Rebecca McGrath.
Both women had been in a relationship with the same man, who had had two children with Miss McGrath. At the time of the assault he was with Chisnall, who falsely accused Miss McGrath of not allowing him to "see his kids."
Chris Taylor, prosecuting, said the victim had been "out and about" in St Helens town centre on the night in question when the pair first clashed, which resulted in the victim being thrown out of a bar, reports Liverpool ECHO .
They next came in contact with one another in the early hours of the following morning near a taxi rank, when Chisnall grabbed and dragged Miss McGrath to the floor. In video footage of the attack shown in court, she then dragged her across the ground by her hair and continued the assault when the victim tried to get to her feet.
The attack continued, as Chisnall carried on kicking and punching her, despite being asked to stop. The incident lasted for five minutes and left Miss McGrath with a broken nose, two black eyes and bruising to her face.
Lorraine Farrin
Lorraine Farrin left her friend with a fractured skull after pushing her down the stairs at a house party. Farrin, 22, walked free from court after being convicted of causing grievous bodily harm.
Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court, sitting at Stockport Magistrates' Court, heard the victim was one of a number of guests who turned up at Farrin's Rochdale home on the night of the Halloween party.
Farrin, of Manchester Road, and her victim went upstairs to try clothes on and came downstairs to show off what they were wearing during the incident on October 31, 2020.
However, when one of the guests went upstairs to use the bathroom at about 9.30pm, she heard them arguing over a pair of jeans.
Farrin was heard to say: "I want my jeans back," to her friend, who was still wearing them. She was then heard to say: "F*****g have them then".
It was then that Farrin pushed her victim headlong from the top of the stairs all the way to the bottom, causing her to hit her head on an open door and landing on the laminate floor. Farrin was then heard to say: "W***, I hope she dies, s**g."
Miss Rimmer said the victim was seen to have blood coming from her right ear and also in her hair. She was unconscious for 10 minutes, while Farrin paced around the kitchen calling her a 's**g and a w***e'.
In February, she was sentenced to 12 months in prison, suspended for two years, with a 30 days' rehabilitation activity requirement and 90 days' alcohol monitoring.
Read more of today's top stories here
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