A TEENAGER who deliberately threw a container of excrement and urine in the face of his teacher as he was being taught at a Young Offenders Institution has walked free from court.

Eighteen-year-old Louis Wood was sat at a table during a one-to-one English lesson when the vile attack occurred.

As the victim, Amee Coombes, sat opposite him, he pulled out a container from under the table and deliberately targeted her, lobbing the contents in her face twice before then throwing the entire receptacle towards her.

In graphic CCTV footage played to Somerset Magistrates, the defendant could clearly be seen laughing with fellow pupils as the victim ran from the room covered in faeces.

She then had to attend an emergency hospital appointment to have her eyes checked for signs of infection.

In another incident Wood, who was uninsured and did not have a licence, crashed a car into a parked vehicle on Chard’s High Street after losing control.

The crash had “devastating” consequences for the two female victims and three-year-old child inside, who had all suffered ongoing mental and physical health problems as a result.

After realising what he had done he fled the scene along with his passenger, not even stopping to check if the victims were okay.

On a separate occasion he started being abusive and threatening towards staff and members of the public at the Tesco store in Chard despite being repeatedly asked to leave.

Before the commencement of the hearing, presiding magistrate Charis Cavaghan-Pack said that the reporting restrictions previously imposed in the case were now to be lifted following representations from a member of the press after it was disclosed that Wood had turned 18 the previous week.

“We are convening this as a youth court, and the defendant will be sentenced as a youth, but because he has turned 18 the reporting restrictions have been lifted,” she said.

Wood, 18, currently living at an address in Newton Abbott, pleaded guilty to assaulting Amee Coombes by beating her at Cardiff YOI on January 4.

He also admitted a charge of driving a Peugeot vehicle dangerously and without insurance or a licence on the High Street, Chard, on December 5, along with failing to stop after an accident.

He also pleaded guilty to using threatening and abusive behaviour towards staff and customers at Tesco in Chard on April 14.

Prosecutor Ed Counsell said that the teacher, Miss Coombes, said that following the attack in the classroom the smell of the excrement was disgusting and the contents of the container were all over her face, her hair and clothing.

“The faeces actually soaked through her uniform making contact with her skin and she went to the toilets and could not get her hair clean.

“She showered in the gym and was given fresh prison-issue clothing but she had great difficulty in getting herself clean, and feeling clean.

“She also had to throw away her watch, boots and official uniform, costing £180.”

Mr Counsell said Miss Coombes found the whole incident distressing and said it was very difficult for her to return to work and had to have an extended period off sick.

In an emotive impact statement read to the court by the victim herself, she said that the offence had now left her unable to trust young people.

She said: “The smell of faeces was overwhelming and disgusting and I could not get the smell off my clothes or skin and still smell it now at times.

“I also have trouble sleeping and am taking medication to help me get to sleep and I have lost all confidence and do not trust young people there any more.

“I am anxious at how close I stand to the boys and wonder what would have happened if he had had a weapon.”

She said she was still employed as a teacher by security firm G4S but said she no longer had the confidence to work with children as she didn’t trust them and was now working with adults.

When Wood was interviewed by police he said he had been asked by another inmate to throw a substance at a member of staff with whom he had a grudge against and claimed he did not know what was inside the container.

He said he was given a deodorant bottle containing the faeces and urine and was told, “You know what will happen if you don’t throw it over her”.

Mr Counsell said: “However the defendant had a choice, and by pleading guilty today he has accepted there was no duress involved, although he later said he regretted his actions and had sent a letter of apology to Miss Coombes.”

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Mr Counsell said that on December 5 Wood had been picked up by a friend in a red Peugeot and the defendant took over driving it as he was interested in buying the car.

“The car was seen being driven faster than the speed limit and then went out of control on a bend coming down a hill towards Chard,” he said. “The road led to a residential area with parked cars on the side of the road and a home for the elderly on the bend.

“The Peugeot was snaking from side to side and spun around in the road colliding with the passenger side of a Kia car in which two females and a three year old child were sat.

“It was a considerable impact causing the Kia to be moved 4/5 feet sideways, up on two wheels and then falling back again and causing the airbags and side curtains to be deployed.”

The defendant and his passenger ran off from the scene and both vehicles were written off as a result of the collision.

He later said that he didn’t think anyone was badly hurt because both he and his passenger were okay.

The driver of the car, Selina Sapsford, also attended court and said she felt “massively angry” that two teenaged boys ran away from the scene of the accident while she was screaming and a young child was in her car.

She said she was now taking medication for anxiety and stress and said she had torn tendons in her right hand and had not been able to work since.

She also said she had to sit with her son until he fell asleep and he was still very nervous when he sat in a car and shouted if he saw a vehicle come towards them. He had also been diagnosed with signs of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

She added that more recently she had collapsed due to her neck injury and had recently returned to work part time after three months off.

She was also suffering problems with the loss of her peripheral vision and doctors said she had a small blood clot on the brain and had now referred her for an MRI scan.

Ingrid Edgington, the front seat passenger in the car, said the impact of the collision had been “horrific” and had been devastating for her new floristry business as she was unable to use her arm and had had to seek the help of family to help her look after her garden.

“I now do not know whether my business will survive and the stress has put a huge strain on my relationship with my partner, so much so that we have now separated,” she said.

On April 14, the duty manager at Tesco in Chard was made aware of two drunken males outside the store who were shouting repeated abuse and obscenities to members of the public as they went in and out of the premises.

One of them was Wood, who was slouched on the floor and they were both asked to leave and told the police were being called. The defendant responded by saying: “F*** the police, they’re useless and won’t do anything.”

They began pushing around stock that was on display in the foyer but were told to stop by a group of girls and when they heard a police siren they ran off and disappeared from the scene but was then found hanging around the store half an hour later, said Mr Counsell.

A further altercation occurred between Wood and a male customer and when the police arrived they detained the defendant, who replied that it was not him who had committed the offence.

Defending solicitor Neil Priest said that Wood was just 17 when the offences were committed, and since then he had been doing a lot of voluntary work for which he was being paid and wanted to use that money to compensate the victims.

“I cannot recall a more emotive hearing and through me, Louis wants to commend them all for their bravery today in coming to court,” he said.

“Sometimes young people are in situations where they are persuaded or threatened to do an act, and the attitude that Louis now has towards the victims shows that any empathy that was lacking is now clearly present.”

He said the defendant had a fairly unsettled lifestyle in recent times but it was patently obvious that the placement he was now in had been successful.

“The person he was driving the car with was older than him and a bad influence, and he was also influenced during the matter at the Young Offenders Institution.”

He added that Wood was now doing work experience at a farm and as a gardener.

The court also heard reports from support workers at his current placement saying he had changed his life significantly since February and was a “pleasure to be around”, although a period in April when Wood absconded from his accommodation was described as “a blip”.

Despite being told by the magistrates that they had been considering sending him into custody, the defendant was given a two year Youth Rehabilitation Order with supervision and a six month curfew requiring him to be at his home address between 8pm and 7am daily.

He was also ordered to carry out the maximum amount of unpaid work of 120 hours and ordered to pay each of the four victims £300 compensation for their injuries and distress.

They also banned him from driving or applying for a licence for 18 months and said that he must pass an extended test before he can get behind the wheel.

An exclusion order was also put in place banning Wood from going to Chard for the next three months but no costs or victim surcharge were imposed.

Mrs Cavaghan-Pack said that it had been one of the most difficult cases she had dealt with in her 18 years serving on the bench.

“We have heard excruciating details from the three victims about how badly they have been affected and were very moved by that,” she said.

“Without a shadow of a doubt if you were appearing in the adult court having committed these offences then you would have gone straight into custody.

“However, in the youth court, what trumps everything is rehabilitation.

“We have heard there has been a big change in your attitude and that you have turned your life around, and the order we have imposed is the highest Youth Rehabilitation Order we can give.

“It is only because you are becoming rehabilitated that the seeds are there and you have started to see how wrong your actions were and you have started to do good and useful things and work with, and trust, adults.

“We know there was a blip, but there were reasons for it, and you now have to prove you can stick to it and it will be a very hard order.”