Clare Bailey.Photo:North Yorkshire Police
North Yorkshire Police
A British woman has been sentenced to 22 years in prison after admitting last year to disguising herself and hiding a knife in a bouquet of flowers before stabbing the wife of a man whom she had a previous affair with.
Clare Bailey, 44, pled guilty to attempted murder last year and was sentenced last week, the North Yorkshire Police Department said in anews release. The stabbing took place last June in Harrogate, about 15 miles north of Leeds.Police say Bailey was disgruntled over her relationship with the man ending months prior and that the woman she stabbed, identified only as Emma, didn’t know her at the time. Bailey admitted to calling off work and going to the woman’s home to confront her.
She put on a red wig and a COVID-style face mask to conceal her identity and brought a bouquet of flowers to hide the carving knife she used in the attack, the release states.
Clare Bailey.North Yorkshire Police
Emma attempted to defend herself, and her teenage daughter also tried to step in to protect her mother. “Emma did not know Bailey,” police stated. “It later transpired Bailey had previously had a relationship with Emma’s husband but this had ended several months before the offense took place, something which Bailey had struggled to accept.”
Yorkshire Police Senior Investigating Officer Jonathan Sygrove said Emma showed “courage” throughout the investigation and he hopes Bailey’s sentencing “will allow her some closure,” according to the release.“This was a horrific attack on an innocent and blameless lady who is now unable to feel safe in her own home, work, or spend time independently with her children, as a result,” Sygrove said. “Emma had to spend weeks in hospital away from her family receiving treatment for injuries which simply, should never have happened. All she did was open the front door to her home.”
Emma said in a statement included in the release that she is “still in pain every day” from the attack.
“I use crutches to get around as I am still unable to use my right leg fully and for longer distances I have a wheelchair,” she said. “I’ve lost all my independence, I couldn’t go back to work, we are having to rely on disability benefits, I have just lost my whole life really, I need help with everything I do. I don’t sleep and when I do sleep, I have flashbacks and nightmares of that afternoon.”
source: people.com
