Exeter bride-to-be smashes maid of honour's skull Published duration 11 June 2019

image copyright Pixabay image caption Helen Hoaken's wedding will now have to wait until after her release

A bride-to-be has been jailed for smashing her maid of honour's skull after learning she had slept with her fiancé.

Helen Hoaken grabbed Carol Clarkson's hair and flung her to the ground so violently that her head crashed into the pavement, a court heard.

She suffered a fractured skull and bleeding on the brain.

Hoaken, 37, of Blackall Road, Exeter, admitted causing grievous bodily harm and was jailed for 10 months.

Exeter Crown Court heard that Hoaken was due to marry her boyfriend when she discovered that he had been unfaithful with Miss Clarkson, 32.

She saw Miss Clarkson in the street in Exeter on 29 March and attacked her as she returned to the block of flats where both were living at the time.

Her wedding has been postponed indefinitely and will now have to wait until after her release.

Miss Clarkson needed an emergency operation to save her life and spent five days in hospital.

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Judge Timothy Rose said Hoaken was "no doubt particularly hurt and angry" with Miss Clarkson.

"I understand your position," he said.

"You saw her and approached her from behind without any warning at all. You took hold of her hair with quite some violence and hurled her to the floor in a quite shocking way.

"She could have suffered far more serious consequences."

Joss Ticehurst, defending, said Hoaken "did not intend to cause any injury of the sort that she did" and she was "deeply shocked and remorseful".