Oxford student who stabbed boyfriend won’t be sentenced to jail because she’s ‘that bright’

lavinia woodward — Lavinia Woodward's Facebook photo lavinia.woodward/Facebook

An aspiring heart surgeon who stabbed her boyfriend may be spared jail because a UK judge said prison would ruin her career. Oxford University student Lavinia Woodward is expected not to spend a day in jail because she’s an “extraordinary able young lady.”

Woodward, 24, admitted to unlawful wounding for attacking her unnamed boyfriend, whom she met on Tinder dating app. She punched him in the face and stabbed him in the leg before throwing a laptop, glass and jam jar at him during a drug- and alcohol-fuelled fight in September 2016 at Christ Church College, Oxford.

She was facing a custodial sentence, but Judge Ian Pringle suggested that she is spared jail instead. He claimed that a prison sentence would be too severe a punishment for someone as promising as her.

“It seems to me that if this was a one-off, a complete one-off, to prevent this extraordinary, able young lady from not following her long-held desire to enter the profession she wishes to, would be a sentence which would be too sever,” the judge was quoted by the Independent as saying. And thus, he would make an “exceptional” decision in sentencing on Sep. 25.

The defence also claimed that Woodward, a drug addict, had a troubled life and had suffered abuse by an ex-boyfriend. Defending QC James Sturman said that Woodward’s dreams of becoming a surgeon were now “almost impossible” because her conviction would have to be disclosed.

Woodward was issued a restraining order and told to remain drug-free. The Oxford Crown Court also heard that Woodward will be allowed to return to Christ Church College in October because she is “that bright.” She has had articles published in medical journals.