A jealous wife who glassed a woman in the face for chatting to her husband in a bar has been jailed for five years.
Accounts manager Natasha How, 31, flew into a “fit of rage and jealousy” when she spotted Amy Flook “having a little giggle” with her other half.
She smashed a glass into her face and continued to punch and kick her on the floor until security staff pulled her off.
The victim was scarred for life with two 1.5cm wounds on her left cheek, a cut to her left eyebrow and numerous scratches.
A jury at Gloucester Crown Court took just 30 minutes to find her guilty of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
Jailing her yesterday, Judge William Hart said: “You totally lost your self control for the most trivial of reasons.
“For her, as with any young woman, facial scaring is particularly difficult to deal with, it has had a physical and cosmetic effect as well as damaging her well being and self confidence.
“It is difficult for me to work out why you did what you did.
“Any of your friends would be astonished by what you did and I suspect you find it almost impossible to believe yourself.
“You intended to cause her grievous bodily harm by wounding her and it is a lot higher because you used a weapon.”
The court heard how Amy was enjoying a night out with friend Gemma Aston in The Registry, Glos., on January 21 when she began chatting to How’s husband at the bar.
The pair had exchanged just three or four sentences before How – fuelled by alcohol and jealously – attacked her without warning.
Judge Hart said: “It was a totally innocent conversation, in Ms Flook’s own words she was just ‘having a little giggle.’
“It is the type of conversation that takes place in bars and clubs up and down the country.”
During the assault How smashed a glass into Amy’s face before grabbing her by the hands, pushing her against the bar and wrestling her to the ground.
Despite Amy’s persistent screams, How did not stop punching and kicking Amy until security staff forcefully pulled her off.
During her trial Julian Kesner, prosecuting, said the pair had never met before.
He said: “The defendant attacked a woman she had never seen before in her life just because she happened to talk to the defendant’s husband.
“She thrust a glass into Ms Flook’s face and then further assaulted her on the floor.
“We say it was a deliberate attack fuelled by alcohol, rage and jealousy which has left a young woman scarred for life.”
In a victim impact statement Amy said the attack had had a huge affect on her and she no longer had any confidence to go out as she was worried about being attacked again.
Giving evidence during her trial ,How said she was “quite intoxicated” after drinking vodka and champagne and only had a hazy recollection of the night.
She said: “I saw somebody talking to my husband who I obviously felt at the time was a bit overly-friendly and I over-reacted to that.”
She denied ever intending to wound Amy and instead claimed she only wanted to “get her out of the way”.
How, of Barge Arm East, Gloucester, was found guilty of wounding with intent during her trial in October, despite pleading guilty to unlawfully wounding.
Joe Maloney, mitigating, said his client had found it difficult to come to terms with what she had done and regretted it entirely.
He said: “She does regret the injury to Ms Flook and she has found it difficult to come to terms with her behaviour.
“She acknowledges that Ms Flook’s injury is always traumatic and she does regret that she was injured and hopes she will make a full recovery and get her confidence back.
“She pleaded guilty to the charge of unlawfully wounding, and has always acknowledged what she did but she has now been found guilty of the higher charge.
“I would invite the court to be as merciful as possible.”
Tearful How whispered “I love you” to family members as she was lead down to the cells.
