The flat where friendship was turned to hate

By sharon marris sharon.marris@courier.co.uk

IN a modest flat on the outskirts of Tunbridge Wells two young women tortured a former friend in a horrifying 18-hour ordeal – beating her, burning her body with cigarettes and using boiling water to scald her skin.

Lucy Viner-Mood and her pal Lois Gibson also kicked, punched and whipped Georgia Fenn with a necklace in a row over an ex-boyfriend.

They then left their victim to sleep on the floor of their flat, in a pool of her own blood.

Prosecutor Jo Cope told Maidstone Crown Court that Miss Fenn had suffered a prolonged attack at the hands of Gibson, 19, and Viner-Mood, 23.

She told how Miss Fenn, 18, had been staying at the girls' flat at 7 Homewood Road, Langton Green, on March 29 when their friendship turned ugly.

"Miss Viner-Mood had split up with her boyfriend the week before and she accused Miss Fenn of sleeping with him. When everyone was in the flat, around 8pm, the two attacked Miss Fenn."

What began as verbal abuse quickly turned more sinister and Viner-Mood and Gibson both sobbed as the court heard, for the first time, the full list of their sickening deeds.

Viner-Mood had first kicked Miss Fenn and she fell, hitting her head on the table.

When she regained consciousness, she felt a burning sensation and woke to find Viner-Mood and Gibson stubbing a cigarette out on her back.

Ms Cope continued to the court: "From then, Miss Fenn's memory of events is a bit vague, but she remembers them cutting her ponytail off and burning her hair, burning her with a lighter and hitting her around the head with a metal neck-chain."

Viner-Mood then tried twice to throw boiling water and sugar at her victim – the sugar being known to make the boiling water stick to the skin.

The first attempt failed as Miss Fenn dodged the sticky mixture, but the second saw the back of her head badly burnt.

As their rampage continued, Viner-Mood and Gibson punched their victim a number of times in the eyes, on her nose and mouth.

Gibson then kicked her and struck her over the hands with a shoe, the court heard.

They sprayed her with air freshener and then attempted to set fire to it.

When the desperate victim tried to escape, she was pulled back by Viner-Mood, who had the only keys to the locked front door.

More than 50 police photos were shown to the judge at Maidstone Crown Court, which showed a chilling range of injuries suffered by Miss Fenn during her ordeal.

At around 5am the girls finally ended their attack, allowing Miss Fenn to sleep on the floor of the flat, her hair matted with blood.

At 2pm the following day, they released Miss Fenn, warning her not to seek help from police and leaving her to walk the streets barefoot.

At court, Viner-Mood and Gibson admitted false imprisonment and assault causing actual bodily harm.

Prosecutor Ms Cope said Miss Fenn didn't need surgery for her injuries but could still bear many of the marks for the rest of her life.

She added: "We can only hope there will be no permanent injuries beyond minor scarring and, of course, the mental consequences."

The injuries include a black eye, chipped and missing tooth, a cut to her forehead, swelling to her lips, a shoe mark on her face, bruising, scarring and cigarette burns over her body.

Standing in the dock, Gibson, dressed in black with a rose-patterned scarf, and Viner-Mood, wearing a grey dress with black leggings and sandals, held each other's hands as the judge postponed sentencing for a month.

The girls were remanded in custody, Judge Martin Joy QC warning them: "A lengthy custodial sentence is inevitable."