Celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal’s sister has admitted repeatedly slamming the head of their mother against a car.
Alexis Blumenthal, 48, from Thame in Oxfordshire, launched a four-year campaign of rage against mother Celia, 76.
Celia became so scared of her own daughter that she had to have a lock fitted on her bedroom door.
Alexis Blumenthal (pictured), 48, from Thame in Oxfordshire, launched a four-year campaign of rage against mother Celia, 76
In the first incident, Alexis grabbed her mother by the hair and punched her a number of times, before pushing at the top of a flight of stairs, at a house in Watlington.
Celia was forced to cling on to the banister to stop her from falling all the way down.
Another attack saw Alexis ‘slam’ her mother’s head against a car on a street in Thame.
In a victim statement Celia said that her daughter had carried out a campaign of ‘verbal and violent abuse’ over the last four years, largely due to her alcoholism.
Alexis admitted attacking her mother at Oxford Magistrates’ Court and is remanded on bail for four weeks for sentencing on January 11.
In the victim impact statement which was read out in court, Celia said her daughter had gone to live at her address after returning from South Africa, where she had lived for a considerable part of her life.
She said that after a few months, maids had begun to find bottles of alcohol hidden around the house and that she had hidden them fearing for her daughter’s wellbeing. This, she said, was when the ‘verbal and violent abuse’ began.
‘It was as if she had the strength of 10 men,’ elderly Celia said.
‘There would be times when I would wake up to her standing beside my bed. I do believe that the rages were so bad that if she had access to a knife she would have used it against me.
‘By August her behaviour had become too much and I did not want to live in fear anymore. I kept thinking: ‘Is she standing outside my house? Has she let herself in and is she going to attack me again?’
Celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal’s sister has admitted repeatedly slamming the head of their mother against a car
Prosecution lawyer Katie Jeanes said: ‘The first of the offences took place in September this year. The defendant and Celia Blumenthal, who is her mother, had been to the Shepherds Crook public house.
‘Mrs Blumenthal’s daughter had been drinking before they returned to her mother’s address at about 5pm or 6pm in the evening.’
She said it had been a few hours later when Celia had gone to bed and her daughter took her medication upstairs, that the first altercation took place.
The prosecutor explained: ‘The defendant grabbed hold of Mrs Blumenthal’s hair and punched her several times and the last punch caught her on the left cheek causing bruising and pain.
‘The defendant pushed her in the back with open hands. Mrs Blumenthal had to hold onto the stair banister to prevent herself from going down the stairs.
‘In total Mrs Blumenthal thinks the defendant must have hit her six or seven times and she described her daughter as ‘being in a frenzy’.
‘On October 7 this year the police were contacted by a member of the public, referred to as Mrs Lambert, after she saw an incident in the town centre of Thame, involving the defendant and Mrs Blumenthal again.’
The prosecution lawyer said the victim had just driven her daughter home and parked outside her house on East Street in Thame when the younger woman ‘grabbed Mrs Blumenthal’s head before slamming it into the car frame three or four times.’
She added that the witness had heard the defendant screaming ‘you f*****g b***h, I’m going to kill you’ before going out onto the street and calling the police, at which point the altercation stopped and the younger woman left the scene.
The copper-haired defendant, who entered court wearing a large, black jacket in faux fur, a black sun hat and large sunglasses to hide her face, began crying as the evidence was read out.
Defence lawyer Angela Porter said: ‘Mrs Blumenthal has reflected on all that has been going on and is aware that her mother has attended court to give evidence.
She said that on the night of the first offence, the defendant had been drinking but had been certain in her own mind that she had not done what her mother said she had done.
However, after learning that her mother was going to give evidence against her, Mrs Blumenthal had decided to change her plea to guilty, explaining that ‘if her mother said so that’s what she must have done.’
Ms Porter added: ‘Her mother rented a flat for her which she moved into in September.
‘Her mother is no longer paying the rent for her and Mrs Blumenthal is having difficulties paying for it herself.’
Addressing the defendant, presiding magistrate Mohammed Ramzan said: ‘We are going to adjourn your case until January 11 at 2pm. That is going to be a Thursday and you will need to be back at this court at 1.30pm.
‘At this point you are going to keep the bail conditions that you had from before, we are not changing anything.’
These conditions meant Blumenthal could not contact her mother or call at her house unless accompanied by a police officer with the purpose to collect her own belongings from the property.