Jennifer Barry has had her third child and is in HMP Styal’s mum and baby unit
Jennifer Barry, 27, jailed for five years and seven months for slashing a mum and her daughters with a broken bottle(Image: Merseyside Police)
A woman messaged a friend “front me” before she went to her house and slashed her and her children with a broken bottle of beer. Jennifer Barry had started the day at a children’s birthday party before she continued to drink excessive amounts of alcohol throughout the day.
But after she felt her friend had not supported her during some sort of confrontation, Barry sent her a number of abusive and threatening messages before she turned up at her Wirral home. Following a brief scuffle, mum-of-three Barry, used a broken bottle as a weapon to attack the traumatised mum and her family. Merseyside’s most senior judge told Barry “she was causing mayhem in the middle of the night”.
Liverpool Crown Court heard today, Friday, April 11 that Barry was friendly with the mum and her two children. The victims cannot be named because of reporting restrictions imposed to protect the identity of the younger child who is under 18. On April 6 2024 they had been together at a birthday party and had consumed alcohol before they went to a friend’s home. The drinking continued and at some point the defendant told the mum that someone was “slating her”.
The mum did not want there to be any sort of incident so chose to leave the party. The defendant sent her a number of angry messages including “meet me”, “come on”, “front me” and “f*** off”. Mr Berkson told the court the mum responded in a polite manner but this provoked Barry further.
Barry, of Wensleydale Avenue in Eastham, turned up at the mum’s home at 3.45am in the morning “carrying a glass bottle of beer” and “knocked and then kicked the door”. This woke the mum who was at home with her children and partner who all tried to usher Barry away. The door was closed on Barry who “broke the bottle…and tried to gouge the Ring doorbell from the frame”.
The court heard the door was opened again and after a brief confrontation the defendant hit the mum in the face with the broken bottle before striking her two children. The mum suffered a seven centimetre slash across her cheek that stretched to one of her children, her older child suffered a deep laceration to her lip, while the younger received a wound to her abdomen.
In a victim impact statement read to the court by Mr Berkson, the mum said she has 25 to 30 stitches to the left of her face and the injury will leave a permanent scar. She added: “I’m constantly worrying about my children…it was my job to protect them. I battle with myself to keep them inside or let them go out. If I could not go outdoors all day I wouldn’t.
“I have longstanding PTSD. I wake up in the night and have nightmares. It has resurfaced past trauma…I won’t go out of the house to see friends. They come to mine. My partner now contacts me several times a day to see if I’m okay. I cry constantly and I feel like I can’t cry sometimes in front of my children. Sometimes I walk to the shop to cry so they don’t feel the pressure.”
She added: “I struggle to get my head around what happened…I don’t know how someone like Ms Barry can do that to us.”
Mr Berkson told the court Barry’s culpability was high and “a broken bottle in such a context is capable of being a highly dangerous weapon”. He added: “What is the difference between a broken bottle to a bladed article such as a knife? It’s a very slight difference in how dangerous it can be.”
The court heard Barry did not enter pleas at her plea and trial preparation hearing in May last year. Instead she entered guilty pleas to section 18 wounding with intent, two counts of section 20 wounding, criminal damage and possession of an offensive weapon on October 24 2024.
In mitigation, Philip Astbury, defending, told the court his client understood an immediate custodial sentence was inevitable. He told the court she had described her actions on the night in question as “stupid and disgusting” and she “hated herself for what she did”. He added: “She acted in haste and has had time to reflect on her leisure.”
He said the mum had recently had her third child and was in the mum and baby unit at HMP Styal. He said staff at the prison had said she had used her time positively and had taken considerable steps to engage with drug and alcohol support.
Mr Astbury added Barry had faced many difficulties and it was to her credit she had no previous convictions. He said: “She is a young woman not before the courts before who has used her time in custody positively and despite all the difficulties which she wrestles she has made progress and is motivated to keep making progress to not be before the court again.”
Sentencing, the Honorary Recorder of Merseyside Judge Andrew Menary KC said the incident happened after Barry had consumed a considerable amount of alcohol and told her she had a “real problem with alcohol” and “drank to excess”. He said any force perpetrated towards her was understandable and “all the trouble was brought by you”.
However, he said he did not believe the bottle was taken to the address to be used as a weapon and awarded her 20% credit for her guilty pleas. He acknowledged she had a supportive partner, but added her conduct and the consequences of her actions “represented a real tragedy” for her young family.
Barry was sentenced to five years and seven months in prison. She will also be subject to a restraining order for five years upon her release. Barry, who wore a quarter zip sportswear top and sported dark hair, thanked the judge before she was taken back to her cell.