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Former Deal beauty queen Isabelle Brown reacts after glass attacker Megan Roberts avoids jail

A former Deal beauty queen who was scarred for life after being glassed has spoken of her anguish after her attacker avoided a prison term.

Mother-of-one Megan Roberts, 24, plunged a glass into the face of Isabelle Brown, 19, in a pub in January 2013.

Miss Brown, known as Izzy, had previously been involved with Roberts’ boyfriend years before, when she was 16.

Isabelle Brown was injured in the glassing
Isabelle Brown was injured in the glassing

A jury at Canterbury Crown Court heard that Roberts, who has a law degree, had sent a chilling threat via Facebook when she found out, saying “I am going to smash your little head in.”

When they saw each other in the Hole in the Roof pub Miss Brown smiled but Roberts shouted “Don’t smile at me” before pushing the glass into her victim’s face.

Now Miss Brown, formerly of Walmer Way, has had to abandon her budding modelling career because of the scar.

She said: “You know how it is with girls, you do your make-up, you want to make yourself look nice but it’s just constant.

“It knocks your confidence.”

She was part of Team England in the Miss European beauty pageant as well as taking Miss Deal and Miss Kent titles from age 14 to 18.

She said: “It took a while for it to sink in that it’s actually happened. You don’t expect people to behave like that. It’s shameful.”

Judge Nigel Van Der Bijl heard how the incident had left Miss Brown – who had to give up a place at Reading University – physically and mentally scarred.

Megan Roberts sentenced after the glass attack
Megan Roberts sentenced after the glass attack

She told the court in her Victim Impact Statement: “My appearance was very important to me and how I looked mattered.

“I travelled to Europe and did some modelling work but I am simply not able to do any work due to the prominent scarring on my forehead.”

Miss Brown, who now lives in Snargate Street, Dover and works at Sainsbury’s in Deal, and The Duchess and Funky Monkeys in Dover, said: “I appreciate that people should not judge you on your appearance but in the world of modelling that is all you are judged on.

“I am not saying that I would have a future in modelling but this has stopped any future I could have had.

“I no longer feel I can go out in my old town in Deal. I no longer feel comfortable there even though it is the town where I grew up.”

"I am not saying that I would have a future in modelling but this has stopped any future I could have had" - Isabelle Brown

Roberts, of Golf Road, Deal, escaped an immediate jail sentence for the savage attack but Miss Brown said the mum should have faced imprisonment.

She said: “It should have been more. It seems like they’ve let her walk away because she’s got a child.

“If you were that bothered about your child you would consider your actions before doing them. It’s just wrong. A man would have got different treatment.”

Roberts was acquitted by a jury of causing the wound intentionally and had admitted a lesser charge of unlawful wounding at an earlier hearing.

She was given a two year sentence suspended for two years and ordered to wear an electronic curfew tag for four months and do 200 hours of unpaid work for the community.

The judge also ordered Roberts, who is on benefits, to pay her rival £1000 compensation within a year, adding: “That I am sure, is really not enough.”

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