Ex-hotel worker glassed pregnant woman she blamed for losing her job, Preston Crown Court is told

A former housekeeper at a seaside hotel glassed a pregnant woman she blamed for losing her job, a court heard.

Catherine Holden hit her ex-colleague in the face with a tumbler, causing her a two-inch gash across her left eyebrow.

Fortunately, the glass didn’t smash in the attack which was witnessed by the hotel manager, Preston Crown Court was told.

Holden, 32, who pleaded guilty to unlawful wounding, was given a suspended prison sentence and made the subject of a restraining order banning her from making any contact with her victim for the next five years or entering the street where she lives in Morecambe.

Barrister Tom Challinor, prosecuting, said the incident happened just after breakfast on July 13 last year at the Clifton Hotel on Marine Road West in Morecambe. Holden, who had recently been fired, had been allowed to stay in one of the rooms overnight because she told the manager she was homeless.

At around 10:00am the victim, who was six months pregnant, arrived to begin her shift. As she was talking to the manager in the doorway of the dining room, Holden walked over, picked up a tumbler, shouted: “You cost me my job you bitch” and struck her in the face with the glass.

The victim was taken to hospital where a two-inch laceration on the eyebrow was repaired with steri-strips.

Holden left the hotel but was arrested later that morning at a nearby flat.

In a victim impact statement read out in court the woman said she had suffered anxiety in the immediate aftermath about the effect the attack might have had on her unborn child.

She was nervous about going out on her own in case she bumped into Holden, she had to change the route she took to walk her dog and needed her partner to take her to work every day.

She now has a scar from the attack, although it is on the eyebrow and she is able to disguise it with make-up.

The court heard Holden, of Barnes Road, Heysham, had no previous convictions.

But Mr Challinor said the glass was a dangerous weapon because of the way it had been used to inflict an injury to the woman’s face, close to her eyes.

Defence barrister Rachael Woods said that not long after the incident – now 14 months ago – her client had been sectioned by her mother for her own welfare.

“This demonstrated the state of her mind at the time she committed this serious offence,” she said.

It had been out of character, without warning and it had involved the use of a weapon.

“She has recognised that this is a serious offence and her liberty is at stake today and she is terrified of that (prison). She would not cope very well. Her mental health is in a much better place now.”

Judge Darren Preston told Holden, who was a regular cannabis user, she had worked with the other woman at the Clifton Hotel “until you were fired for your behaviour”.

“Despite this he (the manager) helped you out by putting you up because you were homeless.

“You attacked her (the victim) quite out of the blue, and violently. She had stitches in a nasty cut. She was six months pregnant at the time. It is hardly surprising there have been long-term psychological consequences. You have made her life more difficult.

“This was completely gratuitous, nasty and violent. It was a momentary loss of your temper, a fleeting incident. You admit you didn’t strike her particularly hard to break the glass, which she and you have good reason to be thankful for.”

He said her mother had become concerned about her mental health in the early part of 2025 because of her paranoid behaviour. She and others had tried to get help for her and eventually she was sectioned.

“That was probably the most difficult thing a mother can do, but in the longer term perhaps the best she could do for you,” he added.

He said that if he sent her to prison he felt she would be vulnerable and unlikely to get the help that she needed.

He also told her that if she continued to use cannabis the prognosis was not good.

“I have seen you have tried to abstain (from cannabis) and your mother says your behaviour is better. There is still a long way to go. You need to accept that you need help.

“Your offending was in part contributed to by your mental health crisis and your history. I am sure that your problems have contributed towards your behaviour on this occasion.”

Judge Preston gave Holden a nine-month prison sentence suspended for 12 months. He also gave her a drug rehabilitation order for six months “to keep you off the cannabis and in a fit state to be a reasonable member of society”.

In addition, he ordered her to complete up to 25 rehabilitation requirement days with the probation service.

“Please cooperate and comply with the requirements. They are there to help you to stay out of trouble and stay away from cannabis. Please take this opportunity that you are being given.”