Birmingham Gypsy travelled 300 miles to slash her own niece over a wedding snub

From the Birmingham Post

A GYPSY from Birmingham is facing jail for slashing her teenage niece’s face the night before her wedding.

A court heard Philomena Doherty lashed out at Dimples McPhee, then just 17, with a blade she hid in her bra after becoming enraged when she was not officially invited to the service.

The teenager’s mum Anne said her daughter’s face “fell just fell off” after she was attacked with a Stanley knife, ripping her open from her hairline across her forehead and cheek to her earlobe.
Dimples McPhee outside court

Fearful her intended John Connor would dump her, Dimples insisted on going ahead with her wedding just four days later.

But she said she was in agony during what should have been the happiest day of her life.

Doherty, 31, known as Mena to her family, showed little emotion as she was convicted of assaulting Dimples and Anne at Hamilton Sheriff Court in Scotland on Wednesday.

She was refused bail and will be sentenced next month.

After the verdict, Dimples, of Cleland, Lanarkshire, said: “Mena robbed me of what was to be the best day of my life and I will never forgive her. Justice has been done in that court.

“She should have admitted it from the start.

“She could have killed me that night. I will have to live with the scars and I will never get my wedding day back.”

Anne’s arms were slashed by Doherty – her own sister – in the attack outside the family’s home last August.

She said: “Usually travelling people take matters like this into our own hands but we left it in the hands of the law and I feel justice has been served.

“You can’t give a reason for someone doing this, other than putting it down to pure evil.

“She premeditated this attack. She brought the knife all the way to Lanarkshire from Birmingham.

“What hurts me the most is that my own sister did this to my beautiful daughter.”

Doherty claimed Dimples’ dad, Billy McPhee, had caused the wounds and that she had been dragged around by her hair by Anne and Dimples.

The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, responsible for the prosecution of crime in Scotland, confirmed Doherty lived in Birmingham but would not reveal more details.