Mother headbutts woman, 86, for telling off her son

All Mary Holland did was to ask a child to stop misbehaving in a Cambridge supermarket. This good deed landed the 86-year-old former teacher in hospital with a broken wrist and a cut face after she was headbutted in the face by the child’s angry mum. Cambridge Crown Court heard mum-of-two Danielle Wilks took offence at the pensioner’s actions. Miss Holland was left flat on the floor after she was headbutted and punched in the attack at Sainsbury’s on Coldham’s Lane. Wilks, of Seymour Street, Cambridge, admitted assault occasioning grievous bodily harm. But the 34-year-old was spared an immediate jail term after her victim asked the court to offer Christian forgiveness and raised concerns about the impact prison would have on Wilks and her young family.

Suspending the custodial term, Judge Gareth Hawkesworth praised Miss Holland’s attitude as “extraordinary”. Sara Walker, prosecuting, said the attack happened at lunchtime on April 10, two days after Wilks’ close friend Penny Taylor had been murdered at her home in Fanshawe Road, Cambridge. She said Miss Holland had asked Wilks’ young son to stop messing around with barriers at the supermarket moments before the crime. The pensioner still suffers pain from the attack after falling on her back but Ms Walker said that while Miss Holland believed Wilks should be punished, she would be “very much against her going to prison”.



Michael Duffy, mitigating, said Wilks had been traumatised by Miss Taylor’s stabbing but was trying to carry on with her normal routine for the sake of her son. He said Wilks believed she had been protecting her son, and added: “A situation arose which ordinarily might have led to a few harsh words on this occasion went much further.” Judge Hawkesworth said he believed Wilks was “prone to feeling sorrier for herself than other people”. He told Wilks: “You lost your temper because you felt affronted that she had complained about the behaviour of your child. That sort of conduct is a reflection first of the high standards that Mary Holland has and expects within the community and a reflection of your poor standards of behaviour.”

He imposed a six-month prison term, suspended for 18 months, and ordered Wilks to pay her victim £750 compensation. He told Wilks: “You are an extremely lucky woman because of the extraordinary approach to this whole matter that has been taken by Mary Holland: one of Christian forgiveness and an interest in your future.” Miss Holland, now 87, said the court hearing had been very fair. She said: “I’ve seen women in prison, which does them eternal harm. I have to say the judge acted very honourably.”