Connah’s Quay woman jailed after slashing man’s face

A 41-year-old woman who left a man with a permanent scar after cutting his face open with a Stanley knife blade outside her Connah’s Quay flat has been jailed.

Gemma Meredith, of Bethel Place, Connah’s Quay, was sentenced at Mold Crown Court on Wednesday to four years and 11 months in prison. She will spend two thirds of that term behind bars before being released on licence for the remainder.

The attack

Prosecutor Elen Owen told the court that Meredith and the victim, Laurence Carroll, had known each other for a number of years “and there had never been any animosity between them”.

On 1 April 2026, Mr Carroll called at the Bethel Place block of flats to see another resident. Meredith lived on the ground floor, and when he knocked on her open window she swore at him. She then slashed the left side of his face, causing what Ms Owen described as a “very large wound”.

Mr Carroll could not tell what he had been hit with but said it was a “forceful blow”. He was left bleeding heavily, and members of the public came to his aid before police were called.

The injury

The cut ran 11cm from the middle of Mr Carroll’s left cheek up to his left eyebrow. It was half a centimetre deep and measured 1cm across at its widest point.

He was taken to Wrexham Maelor Hospital, where the wound needed seven stitches. He was also given antibiotics and treated for tetanus.

The police investigation

When questioned by officers, Meredith claimed Mr Carroll had threatened her and told them “they got the knife”.

Police searched her flat and recovered a Stanley knife blade, which the court heard was effectively a razor blade. Forensic analysis matched blood DNA on the blade to Mr Carroll.

More offending the same day

The court heard that later that day, on Connah’s Quay High Street, Meredith called Richard Morgan “a rat”, threatened to “burn his house down” and punched him in the back of the head.

She also pushed over Mark Jones, who uses a walking stick, after he refused to give her a cigarette.

In a separate incident, she behaved abusively in a local newsagent and shoplifted items worth about £9.

Impact on the victims

In a victim impact statement, Mr Carroll said: “every day I look in the mirror and hope the scar will go away, but every day I still see it there.”

He told the court he now felt “paranoid and very self-conscious” about how he looked and feared something similar could happen again. He said Meredith’s actions had “ruined his life”.

Mr Jones, who said he was disabled, reported a “deterioration in his condition” since being pushed over, saying he had become “more shaky, and experienced more pain”.

The defence

Patrick Gartland, defending, told the court Meredith had serious mental health problems and had faced difficulties earlier in her life.

Sentencing

Judge Simon Mills accepted that Meredith had mental health issues and had been “subjected to all manner of injustices” in her life. However, he said her previous convictions showed she had also caused a number of problems herself.

The judge said the attack on Mr Carroll was “very serious” and had been carried out with a “highly dangerous weapon”.

As well as the prison sentence, the court made the following orders:

• A restraining order banning Meredith from contacting or approaching Mr Carroll
• A statutory surcharge to be paid
• A forfeiture order for the blade