Who is Lavinia Woodward?
A BRAINY Oxford student who stabbed her boyfriend in a cocaine and booze fuelled frenzy has lost her Court of Appeal bid to challenge her suspended jail sentence.
Lavinia Woodward, 25, was controversially spared jail after stabbing Thomas Fairclough in the leg with a breadknife and hurling a laptop, glass and jam jar at him.
Who is Lavinia Woodward?
The aspiring heart surgeon is currently studying at Oxford’s historic Christ Church College.
She has published articles in medical journals and plans to return to university in the next academic year.
A friend said: “They see her as someone worth the risk of having around. She might win a Nobel Prize, she is that intelligent.”
Woodward voluntarily suspended her studies at Oxford until the end of her sentence, if she decides to return she will need to face a disciplinary procedure.
Woodward's name appears on articles published in medical journals including the Annals of Thoracic Surgery, Hypertension, and The Journal of Physiology.
A source reported in the said her ambition had been to cure heart disease, and that she had come top of her year in the pre-clinical tests that all Oxford medical students take at the end of their third year.
According to her Facebook profile, Woodward attended £16,000-a-year Sir James Henderson British School of Milan.
She left in 2011 and began studying at Oxford in the same year.
Friends said she turned "dark" and started posting nude selfies on Facebook after getting hooked on drugs.
A former school pal told The Sun: “After she went to Oxford she turned weird. She became all dark and gothic and it was obvious she was into drugs.
“It quickly got around that she was hooked on cocaine and, in a bid to beat it, went into rehab.
“She posted naked pictures of herself on Facebook which was completely out of character for the girl I went to school with."
Another pal said Woodward lied to an ex-boyfriend about having cancer for four months to cover up the ravages of cocaine abuse.
She became increasingly violent, throttling the fellow Oxford student to the point of unconsciousness, it was claimed.
He then discovered the lies had been to explain weight loss and mood swings caused by her out-of control drug binges.
Pals also said the student loved to dress in racy S&M-style outfits and was a regular on the kink scene.
A pal revealed: “She once told someone ‘I’m into some very kinky stuff’. She said she was into BDSM.
“She had a wild collection of underwear.”
Oxford Crown Court heard Woodward had a “very troubled life,” battling addiction and suffering abuse by another ex.
But she also posted pictures of herself in designer outfits and travelling on private jets.
She wrote: “The best things in life are free. The second best things are very, very expensive.”
What did Lavinia Woodward do?
The 24-year-old had met her ex, Cambridge PhD student Thomas Fairclough, on Tinder earlier in the term.
Prosecutor Cathy Olliver said on the night of the attack, the couple had rowed and Woodward's behaviour "deteriorated".
When Fairclough threatened to contact Woodward’s mum on Skype she punched him in the face before picking up a bread knife and stabbing him in the leg.
She also hurled a laptop, glass and jam jar at her boyfriend during the cocaine and drink-fuelled attack.
A 999 operator could hear screaming as Mr Fairclough said: “I think my girlfriend has taken a lot of drugs.”
Woodward admitted a charge of unlawfully wounding Mr Fairclough on September 30 last year.
She also faced two further allegations of assaulting her ex on November 25 and December 12.
Woodward denied both charges, which were ordered to lie on file.
Did Lavinia Woodward avoid prison?
Lavinia Woodward was spared prison, instead receiving a 10-month sentence, suspended for 18 months.
She tearfully mouthed “thank you” to Judge Ian Pringle as he let her off immediate custody.
Woodward, a student at the university's Christ Church College, had been due to be sentenced earlier this year after admitting unlawful wounding, but the judge gave her four months to prove herself and stay out of trouble.
He said medical student Woodward was an “extraordinary able young lady” — and a spell in jail would ruin her dream of becoming a heart surgeon.
The judge added: “It seems to me that this was a one-off.”
At the sentencing hearing he added: “I find you were genuinely remorseful following this event, and although it was against your bail conditions you contacted your partner to fully confess your guilt and deep sorrow at what had happened.
“While you are a highly intelligent individual, you had an immaturity which is not commensurate for someone of your age.”
Judge Pringle said Woodward had made a determined effort to rid herself of drug and alcohol addictions.
What was the reaction to Lavinia Woodward's sentence?
The judge’s leniency infuriated justice campaigners, who said offenders from less privileged backgrounds were regularly locked up for similar attacks.
Mark Brooks, of the Mankind Initiative charity for male abuse violence victims, blasted the judge’s leniency.
He said: “The comments are unacceptable and out of touch.
“This is a clear case of severe domestic abuse against a man and the sympathy should be with him.
“The judge seems to think that domestic abuse, when it is committed by a woman against a man, is not as serious as it rightly is when it is the other way round. This is wrong.”
Following complaints a legal watchdog announced it is examining the judge's conduct.
The Judicial Conduct Investigations Office said: “The JCIO can confirm they have received a complaint against His Honour Judge Ian Pringle QC.”
Did Lavinia Woodward appeal her suspended sentence?
Woodward lost her latest bid to cut her suspended sentence at the Court of Appeal on June 8, 2018.
Despite an already lenient sentence, she wanted her suspended term replaced with a fine or conditional discharge.
It was the second time Woodward had tried to appeal her 10-month suspended sentence.
In March, the medical student failed in her first attempt to overturn the decision.
At the time of her first appeal, she voluntarily stepped down from her studies at Oxford and announced that she did not intend to re-join Oxford until her sentence was over.
This meant that Oxford wouldn't be able to commence her disciplinary hearing for at least 18 months.
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What has she been doing since her conviction?
Since the trial Woodward is reported to have returned home to her parents' villa in Italy and has found love again with the son of a Russian billionaire.
said she was now living in London with him.
She is also undergoing drug rehabilitation which is said to have prompted a substantial change to her character.
Woodward is living with her boyfriend Philip Kagalovsky - the 21-year-old son of a billionaire Russian Oligarch - in a lavish £1million Kensington flat.
A close friend said: “She thinks this will all blow over - and she can get back to being a doctor.
“She’s so clever in some ways, it would be a good thing. But no one wants to be treated by someone who can’t control their temper.
“Lavinia is convinced this will all just get forgotten.”