Widow of Afghanistan war hero 'bit' new husband in vicious drunken rage

Christina Plumb, from Cornwall, the widow of Staff Sergeant Olaf 'Oz' Schmid who was killed defusing a Taliban bomb in 2009, attacked her new husband, a court heard

A widow of a war hero who died in action in Afghanistan viciously attacked her new husband while making out she was the victim of domestic abuse, a court heard.

Christina Plumb, of Ugborough, Cornwall, campaigned for the families of armed forces personnel after her first husband, Staff Sergeant Olaf 'Oz' Schmid, was killed defusing a Taliban bomb in 2009.

Staff Sergeant Schmid, 30, from Truro, died as he tried to disarm an improvised explosive device in the Sangin region of Helmand province. The heroic actions of the soldier saved countless lives and he was posthumously awarded the George Cross.

In the years after his death, his wife campaigned for better pensions for war widows and higher salaries in the armed forces. She attended a reception at Clarence House and met Charles, following a service for the Victoria Cross and George Cross medal Association reunion at St Martin-in-the Field church in 2010.

But the 49-year-old was found guilty this week of assaulting her new husband Adam Plumb at their home near Ivybridge during a bout of drunken rage.

Plumb denied two charges of assault by beating, claiming she was the real victim of an assault and the charges were a conspiracy to get her into trouble but she was found guilty after a trial at Newton Abbot Magistrates' Court in Devon.

The judge said her account of what happened was "improbable and unsupported" by the evidence. She had tried to paint herself as a victim of domestic abuse while being the real aggressor, reported CornwallLive.

Video evidence from Mr Plumb's phone viewed in court showed Plumb in her nightdress screaming at her husband during a confrontation in the bedroom. As the incident in September 2023 escalated, Plumb bit him on the back.

"Christina was behaving like a dog," Mr Plumb told the court. "She wanted to attack me and I never had her phone. She attacked me continuously in that room and ripped my T-shirt from me."

The trial on Tuesday was told the assault happened in September, 2023, and started after the pair had gone to bed. Mr Plumb said his wife had drunk most of a bottle of gin that evening and started kicking him while he tried to sleep. He told the court that he started to leave but she followed him out of the bedroom, grabbing, scratching, screaming and "just attacking me".

He ended up in a walk-in dressing room but could not leave because she blocked his path. "When I went to leave she bit me in the middle of the back," he said. Mr Plumb denied trying to goad his wife into violence by pretending to have her phone behind his back.

In her evidence, Plumb said the pair had been married since 2020 but had not been happy together. She claimed her husband attacked her while she lay in bed after he found out she wanted a divorce. She said she was suffering from a head injury when she confronted her husband to get her phone back.

However District Judge Stuart Smith said the evidence of all the prosecution witnesses had been "compelling" while the defendant's account was not. He said the evidence showed Plumb had cut her own nose with her nails and blown blood in her husband's t-shirt in a false attempt to prove she had been assaulted.

"Your husband showed no aggressive or threatening action towards you," said the judge. "I do not find your evidence credible and the manner you gave it evasive. You have falsely attempted to maliciously manufacture injuries to your nose as an attempt to portray yourself as a victim of domestic abuse while all the time you were the aggressor." Plumb was granted unconditional bail and the case was adjourned for reports to December 23.