The Oxford University medical student who was handed a suspended 10 month jail term after stabbing her Tinder date with a bread knife has appealed against her sentence.

Lavinia Woodward, 24, a student at Christ Church, was handed a 10-month jail sentence suspended for 18 months following a trial.

Woodward got a suspended term after Judge Ian Pringle QC said she was 'too bright' for jail and it would end her dream of being a heart surgeon.

She has now applied for permission to take her case to the Court of Appeal.

Lavinia Woodward, 24, (pictured arriving at court in September) was handed a suspended 10 month jail term - she has now applied for permission to take her case to the Court of Appeal

A spokesman for the Judicial Communications Office said: 'Lavinia Woodward has submitted an application for permission to appeal.

'The next stage is for a single judge to consider the application on paper and if permission is granted it then the substantive appeal will be heard in court before three judges.'

The 24-year-old has voluntarily suspended her studies at Oxford for the duration of her sentence.

It means any university disciplinary hearing will not take place for at least 18 months.

It had initially been thought Woodward would leave the university voluntarily.

Her legal counsel, James Sturman, QC, had said she was 'reluctant' to return because she was worried at being recognised.

After the court case Oxford had also suggested she would be subject to a speedy inquiry that could have seen her kicked out of the university.

At other universities and medical schools, students convicted of violent offences who are also drug addicts can expect to be expelled.

But she has now voluntarily suspended her studies, meaning a disciplinary panel cannot rule on whether to expel her until she decides to return.

A source at Oxford University said Woodward could be trying to 'set the terms' of the process so she is looked on more favourably once she completes her sentence.

But they highlighted that she will go through the same rigorous disciplinary procedures regardless of how much time passes.

A friend of the 24-year-old claimed Woodward had the support of a number of senior figures at Christ Church College.

The unnamed friend said she had 'an awful lot of institutional support' and academics recognised her as a 'potential Nobel Prize winner'.

A source at Oxford University said Woodward could be trying to 'set the terms' of the process so she is looked on more favourably once she completes her sentence

They said: 'I think they would be happy to have her back, and that she will end up returning quietly. She's done some very interesting work in cardiology, they've described her as a future Nobel Prize winner.

Woodward is already in conversations to do a DPhil at Oxford, the friend claimed.

But they added: 'There obviously is a safety concern associated with somebody who has pleaded guilty to unlawful wounding being in an educational environment.

'Clearly she's been having help, but it's up to college officials to decide whether it's safe for us for her to come back.'

But Martyn Percy, dean of Christ Church, said: 'I do not think [Woodward] is getting special treatment.'

Woodward (pictured left and right) looked relieved as she left Oxford Crown Court last month with a suspended sentence

Woodward got a suspended term after Judge Pringle described her as 'an extraordinarily able young lady' and said sending her to prison would damage her hopes of becoming a surgeon.

Woodward had pleaded guilty to unlawful wounding earlier this year for stabbing her ex-boyfriend and Cambridge student Thomas Fairclough.

Oxford Crown Court heard she stabbed him in the leg with a bread knife while under the influence of drugs and alcohol.

Woodward (circled) posed naked with her fellow students to raise money for the university's LGBTQ society

Critics claimed she would have been sentenced differently if she was a man or came from a council estate.

The Judicial Conduct Investigations Office (JCIO) rejected three complaints against Judge Pringle in connection with the case.

A judge must now look at Woodward's application and decide whether to grant her permission to appeal.

Since the trial Woodward is reported to have returned home to her parents' villa in Italy.

She is also undergoing drug rehabilitation which is said to have prompted a substantial change to her character.

The case caused outcry, with critics saying she would have been treated differently were she not a wealthy Oxford student



