Recovering drug addict, 31, whose battle to get clean was revealed in striking before and after pictures now faces jail for scarring her cousin’s girlfriend with a dagger

• Ashley Cole, 31, slashed victim’s forehead with knife after calling her ‘man-head’

An addict whose battle to get herself clean from drugs was chronicled in before-and-after pictures faces was facing jail today for scarring her cousin’s girlfriend.

Ashley Cole, 31, slashed Georgia Skelton’s forehead with the fighting knife after labelling her a ‘man-head’ and a ‘dirty lesbian’ during an ugly street confrontation.

She later posted a defiant message on Facebook denouncing her cousin Kayleigh Wain and Miss Skelton as ‘snitches’ for going to police and boasting she was ‘feeling fantastic.’

The message read: ‘Getting ready for court because my so-called cousin the snitch turns up to my flat with her bird. Somehow her bird’s wig got split up. Do not know how that happened, it was not me. Pair of snitches.’

The attack occurred four years after Cole, from Widnes, Cheshire managed to kick her heroin and cocaine habits when she was locked up for preying on a mentally ill man for his disability living allowance and other benefits.

At the time she was labelled a ‘slave to drugs’ by her own lawyer but subsequent pictures she posted on social media illustrated how a life off drugs had improved her appearance and put a smile back on her face after a 2017 mugshot highlighted her addictions.

Cole was labelled a ‘slave to drugs’ by her own lawyer and looked serious ill in this old picture

Cole’s journey back to health were chronicled in pictures of her looking healthy after drug hell

This week Cole was convicted of assault in her absence after Miss Skelton and Miss Waine testified. She eventually turned up to court after the verdict was given – and was told she faced two and a half years behind bars when she is sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court next month.

The attack occurred at Cole’s flat on May 12, 2021, after Miss Skelton had arrived to pick up Miss Wain who had just collected one of her children from school. Warrington JPs were told Miss Skelton had an argument with Miss Wain earlier in the day and wanted to ‘clear the air.’

Miss Skelton told the hearing: ‘I got out of the car and walked towards Kayleigh because she was coming out of the flat. Then I just saw Ashley Cole through the glass of the door shouting things.

‘She was shouting towards me, obviously towards my sexuality which she always has anyway. She was calling me a ‘d***’, a ‘man-head’, things like that. Obviously I am upset but I tend not to let people bother me.

‘Kayleigh told me to ignore what she was saying and was telling her to go back to the flat. As I stepped back, I lost my balance because there was a little grass verge behind me. Kayleigh tried to obviously save me but fell back as well. She fell on top of me.

Ashley Cole is pictured outside Warrington Magistrates Court ahead of the case hearing 

ictured is Ashley Cole as she battled to herself clean after a serious and dangerous drug habit

‘Before we had time to get up I looked up and Ashley was there. I did not even know she was there. I saw her fix something to her hand. I could not see exactly what it was. I saw her fix something. Then I saw her swing towards my head, the front of my head. The pain was really bad.

‘At first, she got me here where the scar is. Obviously, I have screamed because of the impact. She has then gone behind me and swiped at the back of my head. I was a bit out of it because I just felt this thud, sharpness and the impact.

‘It was not until I stood up, I felt I could not see because the blood was pouring down my face. Ashley was panicking and getting back to the building and trying to get the door open. She managed to get back to her flat.

‘Kayleigh ran after her and thought she would keep up with her. But she knew not to leave me and was also on the phone to an ambulance.’

She was shown a screengrab of Cole’s Facebook message which was followed by a winking emoji with a tongue sticking out and a middle finger emoji. Also in the message was a long string of emojis including another winking emoji, starry eyes, an exploding head, a bandaged head, and at the end a middle finger.

‘That means she is just rubbing it in my face,’ Miss Skelton said when asked what she thought Cole meant by the message. When asked what she thought she had been hit with, she added: ‘The hospital told me they thought it was a dagger, they knew it was a bladed weapon.’

Miss Wain said: ‘Georgia and I were just talking because we’d had a row that day. But Ashley was shouting things to Georgia calling her a ‘man-head’ and a lesbian. She was quite aggressive and she looked quite mean.

‘I didn’t want things to escalate so I asked Ashley to go back upstairs but I stumbled and I fell on the top of Georgia and we both fell backwards on the grass. Ashley then came out of nowhere and I heard Georgia scream in pain and when I looked there was all this blood,’ she said, ‘I saw Ashley’s hand go past me. It happened so quickly. I knew something had happened.

‘I saw the hand go past me and Georgia made that horrible noise. Ashley went to run off. As I got up I tried to follow her and ask ‘What have you hit her with?’ Georgia stood up but there was this blood all over her face.

When asked about the Facebook post, Miss Wain said that she thought Cole was ‘just trying to be clever’.

Will Griffin prosecuting said: ‘This was a fairly serious offence and the starting point is two years and six months. The aggravating feature is that a weapon was present. The ambulance staff said that a dagger was used.’

Following the evidence of the two women, the magistrates said they were satisfied that the prosecution had proved its case. A warrant was issued for Cole’s arrest but later appeared in court claiming had encountered difficulties getting the bus after going to the pharmacist.

JP Michael Danaher told her: ‘We have found you guilty in your absence. This matter is so serious that it is going to be sent to the crown court for sentencing. The court will take an exceptionally dim view if you are late.’

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