Simone McDermott, 19, pictured outside Manchester Crown Court, lured Aimee Purdy to her flat at 1am in order to attack her
A teenager ambushed her ex-girlfriend with three friends as the gang filmed the victim begging for mercy.
Simone McDermott, 19, lured Aimee Purdy to her flat in Crumpsall, Manchester, at 1am on the pretext of needing a shoulder to cry on – only for the victim to be violently ambushed by McDermott and three female friends.
McDermott had been in a relationship with Miss Purdey but began an affair with fellow attacker Melissa Marriott while the victim was on holiday in Spain, Manchester Crown Court was told.
The pair began hurling insults at each other but on January 3 last year McDermott contacted Miss Purdey to claim she had split up with Marriott and asked her to come over to her flat because she had been ‘crying most of the night on her own.’
After Miss Purdy, also 19, was lured into the ambush she curled up in a ball and begged ‘let me go, please let me go,’ while McDermott and the other girls laughed as they rained down kicks and punches while one of them filmed the assault on her mobile phone.
McDermott stamped on Miss Purdy’s back and head six times during the attack, prosecutors said, and in the two minute video one the attackers could be heard shouting ‘give her here – I’ll have a go’, while another said ‘I’m gonna break your face’.
Aimee Purdy (pictured) was attacked by ex-girlfriend Simone McDermott on January 3 last year
Victoria Houghton, left, and Siobhan Wait, right, admitted taking part in the vicious attack
Miss Purdy was left with bruising to her head and body and underwent a CT scan after doctors found a footprint on her forehead. One of her finger nails was so badly damaged in the assault it fell off her finger.
McDermott later claimed she carried out the attack to get her ex-lover’s mobile phone as she believed the device contained an intimate picture of her.
At Manchester Crown Court, the shocking video was played to a judge as McDermott and her friends Marriott, a college student from Blackley; Siobhan Wait, also of Blackley, and Victoria Houghton, of Wythenshawe, admitted assault with intent to rob. The girls, all aged 19, will be sentenced at a later date.
Katherine Pierpoint, prosecuting, said: ‘Miss Purdy sent a message asking if she was being set up but McDermott responded saying “no, I have missed you”.
‘However it is clear from the messages that this was a set up. When Miss Purdey arrived in the communal hallway, McDermott closed the front door behind her and Miss Purdy heard laughing coming from upstairs before becoming aware of three women running down.
Miss Purdy was left with bruising to her head and body and underwent a CT scan after doctors found a footprint on her forehead
‘The front door was blocked by McDermott and Miss Purdey was then set upon by the group. She recalls being kicked to the floor and being kicked, stamped on to the head, body and legs. She could hear shouting about getting her phone, so she hid it.
‘In the video she was was lying on the floor, her knees curled up to her chest and her hands are over her face. The main aggressor was Marriott who was seen to kick the complainant to the back of the head with full force – although McDermott was equally as violent.
‘Wait was in close proximity and played a lower role whilst Houghton filmed the incident and kicked out. All four were encouraging each other and were laughing.’
Miss Pierpoint added: ‘Marriott pulled her back by the head and punched her in the face as the complainant pleaded “please let me go”.
‘McDermott grabbed the complainant and began dragging her backwards by her coat as she was curled up in a protective position with her hands round the back of her head.
‘Words can be heard “give her here, give her here, I’ll have a go” and “get your f***ing foot off me, I’m going to break your face”.
Victoria Houghton filmed that attack and could be heard laughing in the background, prosecutor Katherine Pierpoint said
Houghton, pictured leaving Manchester Crown Court, was said to be ‘ashamed and disgusted with herself’ for filming the incident
‘At one stage Miss Pursey was on her back with her hands over her face and Marriott and McDermott are standing over her as Houghton kicks out to the top of the complainant’s head.
‘McDermott follows up that with a number of stamps, six times, of the back of the complainant’s head and back. Words are heard “get her phone.” Houghton is still filming and you can hear laughing in the background.
‘Miss Purdey describes the end of the incident being thrown out of the front door and she was petrified they were going to chase her and hurt her again. She hid down a side street and immediately called the police who found her in an extremely distressed state.’
The girls were arrested an hour later and police found the footage on Houghton’s phone and also recovered text messages sent by Marriott to McDermott threatening Miss Purdey, saying: ‘I’ll smash her head in, throw her down, I’ll stab her. Never hated anyone so much’.
McDermott initially claimed Miss Purdey had attacked her and her friends intervened but she later admitted the assault.
In a statement, bartender Miss Purdey said: ‘I thought they wanted to kill me – I could have died. I had a lot of pain with my injuries and I was unable to leave my room for two to three weeks – when I did go out I had to have someone with me.
Melissa Marriott, pictured left outside Manchester Crown Court, and right, hugging Simone McDermott
‘I’ve started getting shopping delivered to my house and I feel unsure going to the shops as I might bump into Simone McDermott and her friends. I didn’t think they were sorry for what they did.
‘I couldn’t work or do anything and I didn’t feel safe or have the confidence to. The assault made me feel paranoid in relationships. When friends arrange to meet me I think I’m going to get hurt and I am on medication in relation to my anxiety.
‘The feeling of being attacked by someone I cared about and who I thought cared about me had left me feeling really betrayed. I was so distressed I couldn’t sleep. I am frustrated to be made to feel a victim by this girl. I don’t want to feel weak and have these feeling hanging over me.
‘This has affected everything in life and I think about the assault every single day, it’s the first thing I think about when I wake up and when I go to sleep, I have dreams about being attacked and having things stolen from me.’
In mitigation McDermott’s defence lawyer Erimnaz Mushtaq said: ‘It’s a deeply, deeply nasty incident which makes for difficult viewing. It’s clear this was a deeply unpleasant and sustained incident. But it’s fortuitous Miss Purdy’s injuries were not as serious.
‘Miss McDermott’s belief was that Miss Purdy’s mobile phone contained intimate images of Miss McDermott and that’s the reason she wanted the mobile phone. This is not a justification, but it explains why Miss McDermott had lured Miss Purdy to her accommodation.
‘There was a friendship with each other with some intimacies but doesn’t accept the extent of the relationship. She refers to actions as being “disgusting”. She is ashamed and deeply remorseful.’
For hospital cleaner Houghton, David Taylor said: ‘Filming this was a crazy thing to do but it’s a bizarre world we live in these days where people are not able to exist without their mobile phone or social media.
‘She was stupidly dragged into this by what was thought to be an inappropriate photo on the complainant’s phone. People do just film unpleasant and violent behaviour but there was no posting of this incident.
‘She tells me she shouted to the others to stop the attack when it got completely out of hand. She is totally ashamed and disgusted with herself.’