A ROW about a pet rat between a Carlisle woman and her partner’s brother ended horrifically as he doused her with freshly boiled water.

The attack by 28-year-old Ben Queen left his victim with first and second degree burns, which required specialist treatment at a Newcastle hospital – and also made her freckles fall off, Carlisle Crown Court heard.

Queen admitted causing the woman grievous bodily harm.

Prosecutor Brendan Burke said the dramatic incident happened on August 4 2021, the background being that Queen had been involved in a text exchange about how to treat a medical condition in pet rats.

Both had an interest in the subject, said the prosecutor.

But the exchange became heated after he made a comment that she regarded as offensive and she was left upset.

“She decided to go to the defendant’s address where he lived with his mother and ask for an apology.

“He was making a mug of coffee as she arrived in the kitchen. She asked him to look at her and went to move the mug of coffee away to get his attention and it spilled.”

Responding to this, Queen reboiled the kettle and blocked her exit from the kitchen and then said “Take this, you b***h” as he pressed the metal tip of the kettle to her head… He then commenced to pour the boiling water over her.”

The water cascaded over the woman’s head, face, neck and upper torso, said Mr Burke. “She was screaming and ran instinctively to the bathroom to get a cold shower and doctors later commented that this act of self-preservation seriously reduced the degree of the burns which resulted.”

Mr Burke said that when the woman “fled” to the bathroom, Queen pursued her, continuing his attempt to pour boiling water on her.

Doctors in Carlisle and at Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary later confirmed that she had suffered a mixture of first and second degree burns over four to five per cent of her body. The physical contact with the hot kettle had caused scarring but this was not visible because of the woman’s hair.

Other areas of her body were left with scald-related discolouration.

“A curious feature is that this young lady had a very freckled complexion,” said Mr Burke. “But she lost her freckles. They just fell off.

“She said that was a strange sensation when she looked in the mirror she felt she was no longer looking at herself.”

The woman then took the witness stand, reading her victim statement. She spoke of suffering scalding to her face, left ear, her arm, her shoulder and on multiple areas of her chest and the back of her neck.

The injuries required her to make multiple hospital visits. Her left ear was also left feeling unusually sensitive due to the damage.

Initially, she said she felt “suicidal” as a result of the pain and suffered nightmares and night terrors and initially post-traumatic stress, for which she was given counselling. She said she struggled to leave the house and no longer trusted people.

The woman said the assault was heart-breaking for her partner, as what happened had come between him and his family.

She said: “After the assault, I had to be so careful of the chance of infection in my wounds; I had to use multiple creams, which would take me half an hour [to apply] just for my face.”

She said she now flinched when she heard the click of a kettle being turned on. She added: “I used to be [interested in crafts] and a creative person but I am now a...a shell of that person,” she added.

Jeff Smith, mitigating, said the defendant’s mother had made a statement which suggested that her son had not pursued the woman out of the kitchen after pouring the boiling water over the victim.

A restraining order was imposd to ban Queen from having any contact with the victim for the next five years. 

In a background report, a probation officer had noted that the defendant felt remorse not only for the victim but also about the impact of the offence on the family generally. The months since the offence demonstrated that Queen, who has no previous convictions, was a young man capable of rehabilitation, said Mr Smith.

The defendant’s family had already experienced tragedy.

Recorder Mark Ainsworth told Queen: “On August 4, 2021, you were involved in a text exchange with [the victim], your brother’s partner and it was about something as innocuous as a the care of a pet rat.

“Something was said in that exchange which caused a relatively good mannered exchange to become less so." Pouring boiling water over the woman had been a “deliberate act, designed to cause the woman “significant injury, both physical and psychological,” said the Recorder.

“The pain must have been intolerable and immediate,” continued the judge, noting that what happened seems to have “torn” the defendant’s family apart. Recorder Ainsworth imposed a 21-month jail term.

The issue, said the judge, was whether that jail term should be suspended.

The Recorder added: “I have considered this with considerable care; it is in many ways the central issue at this hearing. It seems to me, taking into account everything I have heard about the offence… that appropriate punishment can only be achieved if you are ordered to serve that sentence immediately.”