War widow launched 'relentless' attack on second husband, court hears

A war widow has been accused in court of launching a 'relentless' drunken attack on her second husband - allegedly kicking, scratching and biting him.

Christina Schmid, 49, was described as 'behaving like a dog' by husband Adam during a row at their home in Ugborough, Devon, one night last September.

She began campaigning for families of those killed in military service after her Army bomb disposal expert first husband Sgt Olaf 'Oz' Schmid died while trying to defuse an IED device in Afghanistan on the day before he was due to return home in 2009.

Today a court in Newton Abbot, Devon, watched videos taken by alleged victim Adam Plumb who recorded part of an attack she is accused of carrying out.

Footage showed the defendant wearing her nightdress and shouting at her husband to give her back her mobile phone.

He insisted he did not have the device and court was told it was later found on a bedside table.

In the recording, she is heard saying: 'I want my phone back. You are blackmailing me. I am not attacking you, I want my phone back.'

The recording included Mr Plumb replying: 'You are sick. Get off me. The police are coming.'

And he later shouts: 'Leave me alone. You f***ing bit me, you horrible, horrible woman.'

Prosecutor Alistair Verheijan told the court that the defendant had drunk a large amount of gin when she got into bed and tried to cuddle her husband but he did not respond.

He said 41-year-old Mr Plumb went to go to another bedroom to sleep but she began kicking him in the back and pulling off the bed covers.

They ended up in a dressing room where the Crown alleges the defendant bit his back and ripped off his T-shirt.

Mr Plumb told the prosecutor that at the time of the incident, after they had gone to bed, Christina was 'under the influence of alcohol'.

He said: 'You could smell it in her breath. I was trying to sleep and she was poking me with her nails.

'I got out of bed and tried to sleep in another bedroom. She was grabbing me and putting her cold feet in my back. I told her to leave me alone.'

Mr Plumb said she blew her nose on his top and was 'grabbing me and hitting me', adding: 'She was just attacking me.

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'She was full of rage, scratching, kicking out at me relentlessly. I put my hands out to stop her but it did not work.'

He said he was trapped in a small dressing room, adding: 'She ripped the T-shirt off me. I could not get out of the corner.

'She was pushing forwards and forwards all the time. I could not get her off me.'

He told the court Plumb was 'scratching, hitting, kicking' and 'bit me in the middle of the back' and the court was shown some photos of an alleged bite injury to his back and scratch mark to his chest.

They were said to have been caused during the assault he described as lasting for between 10 and 20 minutes.

The defendant claimed her husband bit her on the nose during the incident and that he trapped her fingers in a door, but he denied both accusations and  said she had sustained no injuries.

Under cross examination by barrister Francesca Whelbell, Mr Plumb denied that he was in a new relationship at the time of the incident.

The court heard the Plumbs were separated at the time and Mr Plumb said it was he who wanted a divorce after he claimed he had been abused by his wife for the previous two years.

He said the police had been called out on five previous occasions to their home and accused Christina of being a 'violent person'.

Mr Plumb denied defence suggestions that he had pulled off the bed covers because he was annoyed because she had booked an appointment the next day about getting a divorce.

He said he sent recorded clips from his phone of the incident to the police, but denied they were selective clips to 'make things look bad for Christina'.

And he denied 'goading and pushing Christina' and being the aggressor and also denied biting her.

Mr Plumb said they had financial ties and he had bankruptcy meetings.

When asked why he did not walk out of the Ugborough House property and wait for police who had been called, he answered: 'She was behaving like a dog. The police had been there five times before.'

The Plumbs had been married for three years and Mr Plumb told the court: 'I had seen what she did to her late husband, I was not going to allow it to happen to another man.'

PC Alex Lyons-Martin, who went to the scene, described Christina Plumb as 'extremely emotional, crying and almost hysterical'.

He said: 'She said she was the victim of serious domestic violence by Adam. I did not see any injuries on her as far as I can recall.'

The officer said she was 'shocked' when they arrested her and 'her hysteria became worse' as she was led away in handcuffs and still screaming. 

The defendant became a campaigner for those bereaved by service personnel losses after her husband Staff Sergeant Olaf 'Oz' Schmid died during his final day of duty in war-torn Afghanistan on October 31 2009.

She denies two charges of assault by beating and the trial before District Judge Stuart Smith continues.