An Oxford University medical student who stabbed her Tinder date with a breadknife has been allowed to suspend her studies for 18 months.
Lavinia Woodward, 24, a student at Christ Church, was handed a 10-month jail sentence suspended for 18 months following the drink and drug-fuelled row in her college room.
It has now emerged the budding surgeon has voluntarily suspended her studies for the duration of her sentence. It means any university disciplinary hearing will not take place for at least 18 months.
The 24-year-old has been accused of attempting to ‘set the terms’ on whether she will be allowed to return to Oxford.
A friend of Woodward said she had the backing of a number of senior figures at Christ Church who saw her as a future Noble Prize winner.
Lavinia Woodward, 24, (pictured arriving at court last month) has been allowed to suspend her studies for 18 months
It had initially been thought Woodward would leave the university voluntarily.
Her legal counsel, James Sturman, QC, said she was ‘reluctant’ to return because she was worried at being recognised.
After the court case Oxford had also suggested she would be subject to a speedy inquiry that could have seen her kicked out of the university.
At other universities and medical schools, students convicted of violent offences who are also drug addicts can expect to be expelled.
But she has now voluntarily suspended her studies, meaning a disciplinary panel cannot rule on whether to expel her until she decides to return.
A source at Oxford University said Woodward could be trying to ‘set the terms’ of the process so she is looked on more favourably once she completes her sentence.
But they highlighted that she will go through the same rigorous disciplinary procedures regardless of how much time passes.
A friend of the 24-year-old claimed Woodward had the support of a number of senior figures at Christ Church College.
The unnamed friend said she had ‘an awful lot of institutional support’ and academics recognised her as a ‘potential Nobel Price winner’.
A source at Oxford University said Woodward could be trying to ‘set the terms’ of the process so she is looked on more favourably once she completes her sentence
They said: ‘I think they would be happy to have her back, and that she will end up returning quietly. She’s done some very interesting work in cardiology, they’ve described her as a future Nobel Prize winner.
They said Woodward is already in conversations to do a DPhil at Oxford.
But they added: ‘There obviously is a safety concern associated with somebody who has pleaded guilty to unlawful wounding being in an educational environment.
‘Clearly she’s been having help, but it’s up to college officials to decide whether it’s safe for us for her to come back.’
But Martyn Percy, dean of Christ Church, said: ‘I do not think [Woodward] is getting special treatment.’
Woodward (pictured left and right) looked relieved as she left Oxford Crown Court last month with a suspended sentence
Woodward got a suspended term after a judge said she was ‘too bright’ for jail and it would end her dream of being a heart surgeon.
Woodward had pleaded guilty to unlawful wounding earlier this year for stabbing her ex-boyfriend and Cambridge student Thomas Fairclough.
Oxford Crown Court heard she stabbed him in the leg with a breadknife while under the influence of drugs and alcohol.
Critics claimed she would have been sentenced differently if she was a man or came from a council estate.
Woodward (circled) posed naked with her fellow students to raise money for the university’s LGBTQ society
Since the trial Woodward is reported to have returned home to her parents’ villa in Italy.
She is also undergoing drug rehabilitation which is said to have prompted a substantial change to her character.
Lawyers for Woodward said: ‘The disciplinary process at Oxford is for the proctors…in due course that process will no doubt be concluded.’
The case caused outcry, with critics saying she would have been treated differently were she not a wealthy Oxford student