Man jailed for painting flatmate’s face as she slept

A prankster who painted his flatmate’s face with nail varnish and KY Jelly as she slept has been jailed – for ten months.

Sneaky Ian Mahoney, 32, crept into Nicola Parle’s room after she went to bed following a drinking session.

He smeared her face with various products he found in the bathroom including nail varnish, make-up, KY Jelly and Vicks vapour rub.

But when she woke up she wasn’t able to open her eyes and ”freaked out” and called a friend to help her.

She reported the prank to police who discovered Mahoney was the only other person inside the property at the time.

The victim was physically unhurt but Mahoney was jailed for ten months because she was defenceless during the ordeal.

Mahoney, of Hammersmith in London, admitted actual bodily harm at Exeter Crown Court.

James Taghdissian, prosecuting, said: ”When she woke at 6am she was unable to open her eyes and she panicked. She touched her face and hair and felt grease and other things.

”She managed to get to the bathroom and washed her face so she could open her eyes, then she phoned a friend to come to her assistance.”

The court heard the attack happened on March 23 in a flat the pair shared in in Exeter, Devon.

They had been drinking together before the incident but when Nicola retired to bed Mahoney later followed and covered her face and hair.

Her attacker told police when he was arrested that he had covered her face for a ”joke” and no malice was intended.

In mitigation, William Parkhill said Mahoney had been drinking heavily before he assaulted his flatmate.

He added: ”With sobriety he accepts it was a mean incident directed towards a female who had no knowledge of what was occurring.”

A CPS spokesman said no physical injury was caused but Mahoney’s sentence reflected the fact that Nicola could not defend herself from the attack.