Simon Smith found guilty of Chinnor wine bottle attack

Simon Smith was convicted at Oxford Crown Court yesterday, after assaulting his on-off partner of 11 years, in an attack fuelled by wine, beer and vodka.

The court heard how the 54-year-old ‘swung’ the full bottle of Echo Falls at her face at a property in Chinnor, leaving blood pouring from an inch-long gash on her forehead.

The woman's 18-year-old daughter saw the assault while the couple’s four-year-old daughter overheard the ordeal, and later spoke to her mum of ‘naughty daddy’ ‘banging mummy’s head.’

Smith fled to The Crown pub in Chinnor and continued drinking, the court heard, before police arrested him there later that night, on Saturday, April 21 last year.

The pair had both been drinking that day at a barbecue, and returned to the house in the evening to drink wine in the garden.

They went inside and an argument ensued, with Smith apparently criticising his partner for her financial struggles and social housing.

The court heard how painter and decorator Smith, of Banbury Road in Kidlington, was grieving at the time for his son who had recently died of cancer.

Summing up the victim’s account, Judge Nigel Daly said: “She said he picked on her because she’s a single mum on benefits.

“He then got on the phone to his father and asked him to pick him up at Wheatley services, but he disputes this.

“She was concerned he was going to drink drive there and she put a hand on his wrist [to stop him].

“She said he grabbed the bottle and he swung it round and hit her round the head."

The teenage daughter recalled how the bottle was inside a carrier bag, but Smith was ‘holding it by the neck’ while using it as a weapon.

Her mum sought help from a neighbour who described ‘blood flowing down her face,’ and the wound had to be glued back together at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Buckinghamshire.

In a statement read to the court, the victim said she had been ‘emotionally unstable’ following the attack.

She said: “I tried to put on a brave face for my daughter but she did catch me crying.

“She was very worried about my head. She was hysterical [on the night].”

She explained her young daughter had not witnessed the incident but overheard the commotion and saw blood streaming down her face afterwards.

The statement added: “It has emotionally scarred me and damaged my interest in any relationships.

“Simon has tried to dictate my life and belittle me for years... he targets me to due my financial situation and I have put up with the abuse for too long.

“On each occasion he abused me psychologically, I gave him another chance, but now enough is enough.”

She said after hitting her Smith ‘threw the bottle on the floor’ and it smashed, but Smith claimed she had dropped the bottle herself to ‘make it look worse.’

His version of events was that she ‘grabbed the bag and tugged it’ and it smashed when he let go.

He described her as being ‘in a right mood’ and admitted going straight to the pub after, and drank about six pints with a friend.

He told the court he only found out that she had been injured when it was put to him during police interview the following morning.

A police officer later drove past the pub and saw Smith inside, but found he had left when he went inside.

When the officer went round the back of the pub he ‘followed footprints,’ the court heard, which led him to ‘heavily intoxicated’ Smith and enabled his arrest.

The jury deliberated for less than an hour before returning a unanimous guilty verdict for one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

Smith was heard telling other defendants in the court waiting area yesterday that he was ‘hungover’ for the from drinking red bull and vodka the night before.

The jury later learnt Smith had 10 prior convictions for 22 offences, including drink driving, common assault and battery.

In mitigation the court heard both he and his former partner had alcohol issues, and their daughter is currently in foster care.

The mum and daughters had lived together, and Smith would visit at weekends to stay, prior to the assault.

Judge Nigel Daly adjourned sentencing until July 4, pending a pre-sentence review with input from social services.