Mablethorpe woman jailed after attacking neighbour with hammer during parking row

Nadine Warwood, 42, Fitzwilliam Street, Mablethorpe, was angry after her neighbour Benjamin Colvin asked a visitor to her home to move his van from the parking space in the street.

Noel Philo, prosecuting, told the court “Eventually that person did move his van. He clearly had some connection with the defendant.

“She then quite deliberately moved her own car and parked across his (Mr Colvin’s) entrance.

“Mr Colvin’s reaction was not very temperate. He demanded that she move her car.

“Then he took a hammer and started beating his own wheelie bin , no doubt to give the impression that he was damaging her car.

“The reaction from this defendant was to arm herself with a hammer. She then collected her son and went across the road.

“There is no doubt that her son threw a brick which Mr Colvin said connected. While he was coping with the brick the son got hold of him and held him effectively in a bear hug. At that stage the defendant started belabouring him with a claw hammer. As a result of that he had three cuts to his head”

Police were called to the scene but realizing they were on their way Warwood picked up the weapon and put them in her car. She then moved her vehicle back into her own driveway.

Mr Philo said that since the incident Mr Colvin and his family have moved out of the street.

The court was told that Warwood had a number of previous convictions and in 2015 was given a suspended jail sentence for offences of affray and assault.

Warwood admitted a charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm as a result of the incident on 7 April last year. She was jailed for 12 months.

Judge Simon Hirst, passing sentence, told her: “Neither you nor Mr Colvin fill yourself with glory arising out of this dispute.

“You went to get a hammer, brought it back to the scene and then used it. Although it is right to say that there was a degree of provocation, the circumstances of this and the repeated wielding of the hammer put it at the very top of the category.”

Terry Boston, in mitigation, said that on the day Warwood was expecting a visitor and when he arrived he parked in the street lawfully and was not blocking any driveway.

He said that Mr Colvin then behaved aggressively and swore causing her to ‘see red’.

He urged the judge to suspend any sentence of imprisonment saying that Warwood had suffered provocation.