From the Dover Mercury, 31 May 2017.

Barmaid not guilty of gay pub glass offence.

A barmaid accused of knocking out a customer’s teeth with a glass has been cleared of a wounding charge.

Josie Merry, 34, of Markland Road, Dover, hurled a whisky glass at Chloe Galletly in a gay pub in Maidstone, following an argument about “chavvy” shorts.

Miss Galletly, from Sheerness, had gone to gay bar "Queen Anne" pub in Maidstone with a friend on a Saturday evening when there was an event including karaoke.

She said they had been drinking in Margate beforehand and she then had about eight pints of beer and also drank whisky at the pub in Sittingbourne Road on July 4 2015.

On a scale of one to 10 of drunkenness, she said she was “around eight”.

She told the jury she began talking to barmaid Josie Merry and complimented her on her singing voice.

“We went outside for a drink, and that’s when it happened,” she said.

“We took a drink of whisky with us. I paid.

“It was a heavy glass. We were talking. She seemed like a nice girl.”

Miss Galletly, from Sheerness, said two other women came out of the bar and took an instant dislike to her.

“There was some conversation about the fact I was wearing basketball shorts,” she said.

“I said: ‘Well, your shorts are a bit chavvy."

“It just kicked off. They were like dogs on invisible leashes. They became very aggressive.

“I am not a fighter. I thought: ‘I am not going to stand a chance.’ I went back in the pub and said I was going. I told my friend Gavin.

“We were going to go home. When I got to the door they were shouting abuse at me.

“I just lost my cool and I actually pushed Josie, which I can’t justify. I shouldn’t have done that. We fell on the floor. She tried to pull my hair.

“She was trying to pull my head back. Gavin came and intervened. He pulled her off me.

“I was walking away. As I turned, something came flying towards me. I put my hand over my mouth, I screamed: "You have knocked my teeth out."

“It was the glass I bought the drink in. She knocked out two teeth fully, one half. My front teeth were fractured.

“I didn’t retaliate. My main thing was to get to hospital.”

Miss Merry had denied unlawful wounding, claiming she was acting in self-defence.

In a Facebook statement posted after the verdict, Miss Galletly said she bore no ill well to Miss Merry.

She said: “I can honestly say I am happy with the verdict.

“I was at fault by pushing her and she was at fault when she retaliated, end of.

“I am disappointed with the CPS as I had previously asked if the case could be dropped, which they declined.”