Woman guilty over smashing wine glass in Miss England finalist’s face

A woman who smashed a wine glass into a Miss England finalist’s face, leaving her needing stitches, after a row at a bar has been found guilty of unlawful wounding.

Professional golfer Olivia Cooke, 21, was left bleeding from horrific facial injuries and had glass embedded in her forehead.

She had to be rushed to hospital and needed five stitches to fix the cuts to her face – one of which was 5cm long.

China Gold, 27, of London Road in Ditton, had denied unlawful wounding against her but was found guilty at Maidstone Crown Court on Thursday after a short trial.

She cried in the dock as Judge Philip Statman told her that the offence “clearly” passes the custody threshold.

He released her on bail but told Gold to “put your personal affairs in order” before sentencing on April 27.

Judge Statman said: “This is a very serious matter.

“It has got a starting point of three years [in prison].”

He agreed to a request for a pre-sentence report for Gold from her defence barrister.

The incident took place at The Farm House pub in West Malling on October 19, 2018 after Ms Cooke became upset with “crude” comments being made about her by Gold, the trial heard.

Ms Cooke knew Gold through a mutual friend and both had been at the pub in a group.

Speaking tearfully in the witness box on Tuesday, Ms Cooke said Gold came out with a “crude comment” and started “coming at me verbally, just calling me a slag and a slut and all this, and I am definitely not.

“I just tried to stick up for myself at that point. It all got a bit too much.”

Gold followed her outside, the jury heard, and the altercation became physical, with Ms Cooke saying that she grabbed her throat twice.

In the ensuing struggle, Ms Cooke told the court that Gold had struck her twice with her wine glass, “one to break the glass and the second one to cause injury”.

Gold accepted causing the injuries to Ms Cooke’s face but had sought to convince the jury that she was acting in self-defence.

Her barrister Robin Griffiths suggested she had thrown the glass at Ms Cooke, rather than struck her twice with it.

He also questioned whether Ms Cooke had pursued Gold as she tried to walk away and had thrown her wine glass at Gold first.

Ms Cooke told jurors that she had had no glass in her hand at that point and said it was incorrect that Gold had thrown the glass rather than struck her.