Basildon sisters Sophie and Ronnie Lucas sentenced for attack

Sophie Lucas, 28, and Ronnie Lucas, 25, kicked and punched the victim “20 to 30 times” before striking her with a glass jar on August 2, 2020.

Chelmsford Crown Court heard the woman was targeted after the sisters, both from Basildon, became aware that she was the new partner of one of their ex-boyfriends.

Amelia Norman, prosecuting, said the boyfriend was at the shops when the siblings launched their callous, unprovoked attack at his house in Marine Parade, Clacton.

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The prosecutor said Sophie Lucas and Ronnie Lucas “pulled off” the window frame before entering and attacking the woman, “delivering kicks and punches to the head approximately 20 to 30 times and pulling her hair.”

The sisters then exited via the window, before returning shortly afterwards to continue their assault, hitting the victim with a glass jar.

Ronnie Lucas, of South Crockerford, Basildon, admitted criminal damage and assault causing actual bodily harm.

Sophie Lucas, of Turner Close, Basildon, denied the same offences but was convicted during a trial.

They were both handed 14-month suspended sentences with a litany of requirements imposed upon them, including a five-year restraining order made to protect the woman.

A statement read to the court on the victim’s behalf told how she has been left too afraid to leave her house.

“Getting out of bed each day is a real struggle. Once that battle is won I then have to fight to get out the front door,” it reads.

The woman said she saw Ronnie Lucas in public after the incident and “was so scared I was going to be attacked again”.

Recorder Gabrielle Posner said both sisters were equally involved and she found it to be a “particularly nasty incident”.

Conall Bailie, mitigating for Sophie Lucas, said the attack “was an aberration” and that his client has proved she has moved on from it.

Daniel O’Malley, mitigating for Ronnie Lucas, added: “Finally she is showing the green shoots of growing up. She needs to grow up, she knows that.”

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