Two people have admitted roles in a “brutal” attack on a woman in Carlisle which initially sparked an attempted murder probe.
Officers attended an address on Botchergate, close to its junction with South Street, after receiving a call, at 3.25pm on August 20, reporting an assault inside the property.
“A woman aged 38 was found with serious head injuries and was taken by ambulance to hospital,” a Cumbria police spokesman stated in the aftermath.
An attempted murder investigation was initially launched. Suspects were arrested and a public appeal was made for witnesses and anybody with CCTV or dashcam footage to come forward.
A detective chief inspector leading the probe confirmed it had been a “brutal attack”, and thanked members of the public who had offered assistance.
In addition, a team of detectives were said to have been dedicated to that investigation while specially trained officers were with the victim as she remained in hospital for treatment.
Three people facing charges arising out of the attack were due to have gone on trial in front of a jury this week.
But at Carlisle Crown Court, 36-year-old Graeme Anthony Thompson pleaded guilty to causing the woman grievous bodily harm with intent.
And a second defendant, Rachel Louise Gent, aged 37, admitted a charge of assaulting the woman, occasioning actual bodily harm.
Judge Paul Lawton adjourned the case and asked for the preparation of probation service pre-sentence reports, requesting a “dangerousness” assessment in the case of Thompson.
Both Thompson, of Borrowdale Gardens, Carlisle, and Gent, of Water Street, Carlisle, are due to be sentenced at the crown court on July 12. In the meantime both were remanded in custody.*
The judge directed that a charge faced by a third defendant, 44-year-old Peter Doran, should lie on file after a conclusion was reached that it was not in the public interest to pursue the case against him.
