The mother and daughter both pleaded guilty to assault and affray
A mother celebrating her hen do has been jailed after breaking a woman’s nose during a drunken confrontation in which she called her own daughter a s***.
Donna Ellis, 38, had been out drinking with her daughter, 19‑year‑old Elisa Smith, on August 10, 2024 when the pair became involved in an altercation which turned violent. The victim, who had been drinking with colleagues at The Black Garter pub, was outside smoking when she overheard Ellis insulting her daughter.
As Smith became visibly upset, the woman urged Ellis to walk away, resulting in Ellis squaring up to her and challenging her to a fight. A brief exchange followed before the situation escalated, reports the Chronicle.
Ellis then punched her to the face as her daughter took hold of her and dragged her to the ground, where both of them repeatedly punched and kicked the victim until she lost consciousness. Both women were then throwing punches and offering violence to others in the area.
A betting shop window was broken during the ugly brawl, which was captured on CCTV. Police attended and arrested the mother and daughter and Ellis tried to headbutt a police officer.
The woman was left with fractures to her nose and septum, requiring an operation to realign the damage. In police interviews, Smith confirmed her mother frequently became abusive when drunk and had called her a derogatory name shortly before the attack.
She told officers the victim had simply intervened to say Ellis should not speak to her daughter that way, and the confrontation spiralled from there.
The victim told the court in a victim statement that she was left with headaches from being punched and stamped to the head and is now scared of big crowds of people and loud noises.
“I’m petrified this might happen again,” she admitted, adding that she has suffered panic attacks and that the incident has impacted her work as a social worker for people with mental health issues.
Thirty-eight-year-old Ellis has 103 previous convictions, while her daughter has none. The pair, both of Killingworth Avenue, Backworth, North Tyneside, admitted assault and affray. Ellis also admitted charges of assaulting an emergency worker that day and another day.
The violent mum has been jailed for 29 months and Smith was sentenced to 13 months suspended for 18 months with 200 hours unpaid work. Recorder Richard Stubbs described the attack as an “episode of mindless violence”.
“This was a prolonged and persistent assault, including punches and kicks while she was on the floor and, potentially, continuing after she lost consciousness,” Mr Stubbs added.
Mark Harrison, for Ellis, said she is sorry for her behaviour, can’t recall saying anything unkind to her daughter and said the footage of the violence which followed is a “source of shame to her”. He added that she suffered violence during the fracas and was left with a wound to her face which was bleeding.
Matthew Purves, for Smith, said she had a difficult upbringing but has qualifications and employment and said of the day of the offences: “It should have been nothing but a joyous event.”