A mother severely beaten by a thug who was supported in court by a soap actress has spoken of her distress following his release from jail.
Lee Brimble, 37, left Kelly Brawley, 40, needing 12 metal plates in her face in a savage street assault.
Former Emmerdale and Shameless star Kelli Hollis, 47, had asked a judge for mercy on part-time actor Brimble before he was sentenced.
She wrote a glowing reference for violent criminal Brimble after he admitted carrying out a savage street attack on mother-of-four Kelly.
The terrified children of victims Kelly Brawley and Mark Hughes watched in horror as Brimble punched their parents into the ground, outside his home in Halton Moor, Leeds, West Yorkshire, on June 27, 2019.
Lee Brimble, 37, left Kelly Brawley, 40, needing 12 metal plates in her face in a savage street assault
CCTV footage captured the moment Ms Brawley was attacked by Lee Brimble, pictured
Former Emmerdale and Shameless star Kelli Hollis, 47, had asked a judge for mercy on part-time actor Brimble before he was sentenced
Kelly is scarred for life after suffering a shattered eye socket, needing three operations and requiring 12 plates.
The former hotel housekeeper told the court: ‘It genuinely breaks my heart to look at myself in the mirror.’
The assaults were caught on CCTV and the footage, which Brimble himself said made him feel ‘sick’ was seen by the judge.
Before sentencing at Leeds Crown Court, Judge Christopher Batty said he had read a number of references on Brimble’s behalf, including from Hollis, 47, who had acted alongside him on the TV movie ‘ Tina Goes *’ trilogy.
The movies were set on the tough Halton Moor estate and Brimble played a character called Muffy.
But Judge Batty told Brimble: ‘There’s a lot to like in your personality, but when you lose your temper it is very difficult for you to get it back.
‘What you did on that night is just too serious to overlook.’
Brimble was jailed for 32 months and given a lifetime restraining order to not contact his former friend Kelly Brawley after pleading guilty to unlawful wounding and grievous bodily harm
Brimble was jailed for 32 months and given a lifetime restraining order to not contact his former friend Kelly Brawley after pleading guilty to unlawful wounding and grievous bodily harm.
He was released from prison last month, and has stated that he is determined to turn his life around and is part way through writing his autobiography.
But for Kelly his release has reopened old wounds. She said: ‘I will never recover from what he did to me. I can never move forward from it.’
‘The outside doesn’t show how I feel on the inside. I try to keep my smile on for my kids. I just hate having a bad day and my kids seeing me like that but I just can’t help it.
‘All my family and friends always loved me smiling and would do anything to keep that smile on my face but I can’t help having good days and bad days.
‘It’s just so hard because the scarring is on my face and is very noticeable every day and will never go away. I have to live with this for the rest of my life. It’s not just me who suffers but my kids too.
‘Lee and I were best friends, we grew up together, shared takeaway meals together as well as watching films. Lee was my best friend, he was one of my closest friends, we did everything together and I would never say a bad word about him. It was such a shock what happened, I never expected it because he was such a good friend.
‘I felt safe while he was behind bars although I still suffer from anxiety and panic attacks. I don’t think he realises the full extent of the damage he has done to me. I’ve not been able to go back to my old job as a housekeeper at a hotel.
‘I have been struggling to look at myself in the mirror ever since it happened. I have had to have so many operations you wouldn’t believe it.
Kelly Brawley, pictured, said: ‘Lee was my best friend, he was one of my closest friends, we did everything together and I would never say a bad word about him. It was such a shock what happened, I never expected it because he was such a good friend’
‘I have 12 metal plates in my face! And in the summer they turn and in winter they’re a problem as they freeze so I have to take additional medication so they can work properly as well as my antidepressants And this for someone who never used to take a single tablet.
‘The damage he has caused me can never be undone. I just feel absolutely disgusted by it. I have metal plates in my face that no one else has.
‘I’m hurt, annoyed and infuriated, disgusted and am feeling a lot of emotions. And I am haunted by what he is doing.’
ENDS
