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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
National
Nick Jackson

Woman fractured friend's SKULL after pushing her head first downstairs in row over pair of jeans at house party

A woman pushed her friend down the stairs, fracturing her skull and leaving her unconscious, in a row over a pair of jeans at a house party.

Lorraine 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.

READ MORE: Man arrested after 80-year-old suffers multiple fractures in 'unprovoked' attack

Charlotte Rimmer, prosecuting, said 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'.

The victim was taken home by friends without having any medical treatment, but woke up the following day with her pillow soaked with blood.

She went to hospital and a CT scan revealed her skull was fractured in two places and she had a perforated eardrum.

One of the fractures was from the base of her skull to her right eye socket.

His Honour Judge John Potter heard that, as a result of the assault, the victim now suffers from persistent migraine headaches and has been forced to make 'significant changes' in her job.

Defending, Daniel Lister said that Farrin was seven months pregnant and already had one child, for whom she was the sole carer. She had no previous convictions.

She was sentenced to 12 months in prison, suspended for two years, with a 30 days' rehabilitation activity requirement and 90 days' alcohol monitoring.

Judge Potter told Farrin: "You have no previous convictions, but you are someone who faces the prospect of being sentenced for a very serious offence in Crown Court for the first, and I hope the only time in your life.

"These proceedings should be a salutary lesson for you. I hope that the sentence I impose upon you and this experience will ensure that the behaviour that you exhibited when you caused a serious injury in October 2020 is never to be repeated by you."

He said that part of the reason for the suspended sentence and that she was not jailed immediately was to rehabilitate her in addition to punishing her.

Judge Potter told her that he was bound by a previous hearing at magistrates' court which found that her pushing her pal downstairs was 'a deliberate act and you were reckless as to what you did'.

"[The victim] was a friend of yours who had been invited to a house party at your address," he said.

"During the course of that party, alcohol was consumed to excess by you and it appears [the victim] was trying clothes on with your encouragement, coming downstairs to show them to others, in particular a pair of jeans.

"At one point you asked her to take the jeans off.

An argument about this started with both of you upstairs. It was in the course of that argument that you lost your temper and deliberately pushed your victim head first down the stairs in your house, her head striking an open door at the bottom of the stairs."

Judge Potter said that as well as the physical injuries, her victim had suffered 'psychological harm'.

He added: "You made matters significantly worse when you degraded your victim calling her names as she was lying unconscious and abusing her, making matters worse.

"Thereafter you started to lie about what had happened and tried to get others also to lie about what had happened.

"This resulted in a trial at magistrates' court at which your version of events was not accepted.

"I accept you are a young woman who has had difficulties in life which contributed to this offence."

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