School run mum, 27, faces jail after jumping out of her car and attacking rival parent in front of horrified children in row that started when one child ‘patted another’s backside’
- Simmering dispute between Jade Valentine, 27, and another mother in Plymouth
- Attack in May 2019 followed row when one child patted another’s backside
- Valentine jumped out of car before launching ‘a number of punches’ at parent
- Victim suffered ‘bumps and bruises’ in the attack which involved ‘hair pulling’
An angry mother who attacked a rival parent in front of children on the school run by punching her and pulling her hair in the street has been warned she could go to jail.
A simmering dispute between 27-year-old Jade Valentine, of Plymouth, Devon, and the other mother began when one child patted another’s backside.
Mother-of-two Valentine jumped out of her car, which had a child strapped in the back, before launching ‘a number of punches’ at the other parent.
The victim suffered ‘bumps and bruises’ in the attack which involved ‘hair pulling’, Plymouth Crown Court heard in March 2020 following the incident in May 2019.
Valentine was handed a 12-month community order last year, but now faces jail after doing only a fraction of her unpaid work and failing to speak with probation.
Mother-of-two Jade Valentine pictured outside Plymouth Crown Court in Devon in March 2020
In the latest hearing, Judge Robert Linford emphasised that the case was heard so long ago that the sentencing judge had since retired.
But he added that Valentine had done just 14 of her allocated 200 hours of unpaid work – despite the order being extended by six months to give her more time.
Judge Linford said: ‘It is completely unacceptable. When judges make orders, they need to be followed or there will be consequences.
‘If you have genuine problems with childcare, then probation will listen. That is not what is happening here, you have simply not been doing the work.
‘If you keep each and every one of the appointments that you are offered then on October 29 I will simply allow the order to continue.
‘If you have missed any of the appointments for no good reason you will go to prison. Turn up that day with arrangements in place for the care of your children while you are in prison.’
The attack happened on this road in the Whitleigh area of Plymouth, Devon, in May 2019
The judge extended the community order again until March next year and adjourned the breach hearing.
Valentine, of Budshead Road, admitted breaching the community order by being out of contact with probation since May 11.
She had pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm over the incident, which happened on May 16, 2019.
Charlie Barrass-Evans, for probation, said officers had been ‘flexible’ with Valentine, for example accepting that she could not talk at certain times on the phone because she was caring for the children.
He added that they agreed to her request that she could do unpaid work in charity shops.
Ali Rafati, for Valentine, said: ‘The consequences have left her feeling rather helpless, rather than being someone who is not inclined to do the work. She is very scared and very tearful.’
He added that in fact she had taken her two children along to unpaid work sessions.
Mr Rafati said Valentine had been caring for one of her children who had been ill during the coronavirus lockdown when both had been off school.
Prosecutors last year called the incident ‘pathetic’ and ‘childish’, and now-retired judge Paul Darlow condemned the ‘sustained violence’ in the presence of children.
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