Pregnant Shrewsbury woman handed two-year restraining order after assault on teenager

Shannon Grimes, of New Park Road in Shrewsbury, has been handed a two-year restraining order after assaulting a teenager in Telford.

The 21-year-old pleaded guilty to assault when she appeared at Telford Magistrates’ Court on Friday, October 23.

The court heard that, on June 6 this year, an independent witness called police after seeing an altercation.

The prosecutor told the court that the witness had tried to intervene and heard Grimes say words to the effect of: “Shall we strangle her?” and “You’re lucky I don’t have a knife.”

In mitigation, Ryan Khaira said the incident had arisen from a “misunderstanding” and that Grimes had been diagnosed with a range of mental health conditions, including bipolar disorder.

“She wasn’t medicated at the time, which she attributes to causing this incident,” he added.

Mr Khaira also told the court that Grimes, who was already serving a suspended sentence for a previous offence, was 20 weeks pregnant and urged magistrates not to send her to prison.

Magistrates instead sentenced Grimes to four months in prison, suspended for 18 months. She was also given a two-year restraining order to protect the victim.

Chair of the magistrates’ bench Jonathan Burton said: “If you find yourself back before this court, you are in a position where you are likely to go to prison - whether you are pregnant or not.”