Shocking footage shows the moment a teenager is kicked in the head and the body by her ex-girlfriend and three friends as she begs for mercy.
Aimee Purdey, who was 18 at the time, is seen curled up in a ball as the gang laugh and call her names during the attack filmed on a mobile phone.
Simone McDermott, 19, lured Aimee to her lat in Crumpsall, Manchester, at 1am sending her a text saying ‘I miss you’ only to be violently ambushed.
McDermott, who had been in a relationship with Miss Purdey but had began an affair with fellow attacker Melissa Marriott, also recruited neighbour Siobhan Wait to join in.
She begged ‘let me go, please let me go’ as they carried out their vicious assault, which was filmed by a fourth woman, Victoria Houghton.
Aimee Purdy (pictured) 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 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’.
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.
McDermott stamped on Miss Purdy’s back and head six times during the attack, prosecutors said, and in the two minute video (pictured) one the attackers could be heard shouting ‘give her here – I’ll have a go’, while another said ‘I’m gonna break your face’
Ms Purdey, who was 18 at the time, is seen curled up in a ball as the gang laugh and call her names during the attack filmed on a mobile phone
The girls, all aged 19, were handed suspended sentences and sobbed in the dock as they avoided being sent to jail.
Judge Timothy Smith said Marriott had ‘orchestrated a pre-planned, vicious, cowardly ambush and assault’.
Ms Purdey, now 20, from Denton, Manchester, hit out at the sentence yesterday telling the Manchester Evening News: ‘I wanted them to do (immediate) custodial sentences.
‘They were saying in court they are young and that they have been through stuff but I’ve been through stuff. I don’t go around battering people or jumping on people or even being mean to people.
‘I’m annoyed about (the sentence). I just don’t think justice has been fully served.’
Aimee Purdy (left) was attacked by ex-girlfriend Simone McDermott (right, outside Manchester Crown Court) on January 3 last year
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.
‘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’.
Victoria Houghton, left, and Siobhan Wait, right, admitted taking part in the vicious attack
‘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’.
‘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.’
Victoria Houghton filmed that attack and could be heard laughing in the background, prosecutor Katherine Pierpoint said
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 personal statement read to the court, Aimee, who now has a new girlfriend, said the assault left her too scared to leave her room and go out for three months and when she did finally venture out she had to have a friend with her.
The victim said she struggles to sleep and suffers nose bleeds because of the repeated punches to her head.
The court heard the injuries may have been worse had the attackers been wearing regular shoes rather than Ugg boots.
Melissa Marriott, pictured left outside Manchester Crown Court, and right, hugging Simone McDermott
Erimnaz Mushtaq, defending McDermott, said her client ‘always accepted wrong-doing’ and is ‘deeply remorseful.’
Brigid Baillie, defending Marriott, said her client acted because she believed the victim had ‘intimate photos’ of her client on her phone and this ‘seemed to wind her up’.
David Taylor, defending Houghton, pointed out her client was ‘not the instigator’ of the attack and her actions had been ‘totally out of character’.
Patrick Williamson, defending Siobhan Wait, said his client had played a ‘subordinate role’ amounting to one kick to a leg and one punch to the back of the head.
At a sentencing hearing yesterday, judge Timothy Smith handed McDermott and Marriott, both now 19, two years in a young offenders’ institution, suspended for two years.
They were each ordered to carry out 280 hours’ unpaid work and complete up to 30 days rehabilitation activity.
Houghton, pictured leaving Manchester Crown Court, left, was said to be ‘ashamed and disgusted with herself’ for filming the incident. Right, Siobhan Wait
They were also ordered to pay their victim £750 compensation each.
Houghton was given 14 months, suspended for two years, in a young offenders’ institution while Wait was given 13 months, suspended for two years, in a young offenders’ institution. Each is required to complete 180 hours’ unpaid work and must pay their victim £250 compenstion.
All four were handed five-year restraining orders stopping them from making contact with Aimee.
Marriott and McDermott admitted assault with intent to rob. Siobhan Wait, and Victoria Houghton, pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
Following the hearing, Aimee described how the assault had affected her
life.
She told the M.E.N: ‘I have trust issues with people. I struggle to form friendships. I’ve only recently got into a new relationship a full year after it happened.
‘I’m still very worried about leaving the house. I will only go out with my friends. I don’t like walking on my own even if it’s just to the shops. I’d prefer to be with someone else.’