Teenager avoids jail following Portsmouth assault

‘Violent’ 19-year-old who knocked out fellow clubber, ripped out her hair extensions and stamped on her in row sparked when her friend grabbed man’s bottom avoids jail

• Fiona Hoyle attacked Kealey Smith at Mr Miagi’s nightclub in Portsmouth
• A court heard that Ms Smith had been ‘placed in a coma’ after the attack
• Hoyle’s friend Scarlet Bareham is accused of grabbing Ms Smith’s male friend
• Hoyle received a suspended sentence for her part in the August 2020 brawl 

A teenage sports shop worker who knocked out a woman in a drunken brawl which was sparked when her friend grabbed a man’s bottom on a night out has avoided jail.

Fiona Hoyle battered fellow nightclub-goer Kealey Smith by smacking her, pulling out her hair extensions, and stamping on her – leaving her unconscious, concussed and ‘bruised from head to toe’.

The brutal attack unfolded when ‘violent’ 19 year old Hoyle and her friends clashed with Miss Smith’s companions in a street outside a nightclub.

A court heard the 2am brawl erupted after Hoyle’s friend, beauty therapist Scarlett Bareham, grabbed the bottom of one of Miss Smith’s male friends in front of his girlfriend.

Fiona Hoyle, pictured, received a suspended jail sentence after she was convicted of affray and actual bodily harm

Scarlett Bareham, pictured, grabbed a gentleman’s bottom which led to the dispute 

Now, high street store worker Hoyle has been given a suspended prison sentence for her role in the brawl that followed.

She admitted charges of affray and actual bodily harm relating to the punch-up outside Mr Miyagi’s bar in Portsmouth, Hampshire, in August 2020.

Portsmouth Crown Court heard Hoyle had been leaving a nightclub in the city with Bareham and a third friend when the brawl erupted.

Gareth Burrows, prosecuting, said Miss Smith, now 21, and her friends left Mr Miyagi’s bar at about 2am because it was closing and they decided to wait for an Uber to take them home.

The court heard that, while they were waiting, Bareham grabbed the bottom of one of Miss Smith’s male friends.

Mr Burrows said: ‘Miss Smith said ‘he has a girlfriend, you can’t do that’.

‘With that, Miss Hoyle responds by saying she didn’t care. Miss Smith says ‘well you should’.

‘Miss Hoyle then swung a punch to the face with a lot of force, Miss Smith said ‘I believe she intended to hurt me, she punched the left hand side of my face of my jaw line to my neck’.

Hoyle was handed a one year prison sentence at Portsmouth Crown Court but Judge David Melville QC suspended this for two years

‘She said Miss Hoyle was punching her with one hand and pulling her hair with the other, ‘so hard that my extensions were being ripped out my head’.

‘She fell to the floor, blacked out and rendered unconscious. Whilst on the floor, Miss Hoyle with others can be seen to kick and stamp down towards Miss Smith a number of times.’

The court heard Hoyle, from Portsmouth, also punched and pushed Miss Smith’s boyfriend and had to be pulled away by nearby door security while the woman was taken to hospital.

Miss Smith said: ‘This crime has affected me more emotionally than physically, although at the time I was in a lot of pain. I was covered head to toe in bruises.

‘I was too humiliated to go out, knowing I had bruises on my face and body. I was concussed and had to stay in bed for days afterwards.

‘I have become far more anxious about going out. I’m scared I’m going to see one of these girls again and what they might do to me.

‘I feel if I saw them again they wouldn’t hesitate to do it again. I’m worried about them doing this to someone else and doing more serious harm.’

Edward Hollingsworth, defending, said Hoyle had turned her life around after a ‘difficult’ upbringing as one of ten siblings to a single mother and is now working in retailer JD Sports.

He said: ‘She was intoxicated, it was throwing out time at the bars and she got into a dispute and she acted violently.

‘She very much regrets it and very much regrets the fear and the injuries and emotional harm she caused Miss Smith.’

Hoyle was handed a one year prison sentence but Judge David Melville QC suspended this for two years.

He said: ‘You got far too drunk, you got involved in a dispute and you punched a perfectly innocent woman and when she was down on the ground you kicked her.

‘You targeted an innocent woman and caused her significant injuries.

‘It was appalling behaviour, however it was two years ago and you have managed somehow to turn your life around since then.’

Hoyle was also ordered to carry out 75 hours of unpaid work and 30 rehabilitation days, with the judge adding: ‘If you are inclined to commit any further criminal offences in those two years, think again.

‘Any further offences and a future judge is likely to say you’ve had your chance and will send you to prison.’

Bareham initially faced sexual assault charges over the bottom grab, which she denied, but they were dropped due to a lack of evidence.

However, she admitted attacking another nightclubber, Mark Palmer, who had got involved in the tussle – kicking him and throwing a punch at his head.

She was sentenced to 100 hours of community service and ordered to pay Mr Palmer £150 after pleading guilty to affray at Portsmouth Crown Court at the end of last year.

Hoyle and Bareham’s friend, Hannah Phillips, was also initially accused of sexual assault for slapping the man’s bottom but later walked free after accepting a conditional caution over the incident.

At the most recent hearing Hoyle also pleaded guilty to a further charge of affray, possession of a knife and possession of an offensive weapon for a second incident in December 2020 when she was seen with a group of people outside a block of flats in Havant, Hants, ‘all shouting things like slut, come on, fucking prick’.

Hoyle was seen on CCTV running into the block of flats with a knife in one hand and a piece of fence panelling in the other.

Two other men, Portsmouth resident Abdou Touray and Havant resident Reiss Jones, were also seen wielding weapons.

Touray, 20, admitted charges of affray and possession of an offensive weapon and was handed a nine month prison sentence, suspended for two years, 30 rehabilitation days and 100 hours of unpaid work.

Jones, 21, admitted charges of affray, possession of a knife and possession of an offensive weapon. He was handed a one year prison sentence, suspended for two years, 100 hours of unpaid work and ordered to attend a thinking skills programme.

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