A bride found herself in tears when her sister-in-law splattered black paint on her wedding dress just moments before she was set to walk down the aisle.
On May 24, 2024, Gemma Monk, 35, had to make an emergency change of attire after Antonia Eastwood executed what she called a ‘revenge’ attack.
The incident occurred because Mrs. Monk alleged that Eastwood had falsely accused her of attempting to trip her during Eastwood’s own wedding to Monk’s brother, Ashley, in September of the previous year.
The shocking event took place at Oakwood House, a Victorian mansion in Maidstone, leaving the bride from Herne Bay, Kent, devastated as Eastwood made a quick getaway.
Despite the chaos, she eventually walked down the aisle to marry Ken Monk, her childhood sweetheart of two decades, two hours after the £1,800 dress was ruined with paint.
Gemma Monk noted that she had recently faced a cancer scare, and although Eastwood was aware of this, she still chose to sabotage what was meant to be the most special day of her life.
The mother-of-two, who is a mental health worker, scrubbed herself clean as the paint covered most of the left side of her face, arm and chest. She borrowed another dress fetched by an usher.
Eastwood launched the cruel paint attack after an ongoing family feud which flared up after her own ceremony the previous year.
Gemma Monk, 35, was left in tears after her sister-in-law drenched her wedding dress in black paint in a ‘revenge’ attack
Antonia Eastwood pleaded guilty to criminal damage after ruining the £1,800 gown before the ceremony
The relationship between the two couples had soured since the wedding between Eastwood and Mrs Monk’s brother Ashley, when the victim was accused of trying to trip her up.
Mrs Monk told KentOnline: ‘We had waited for that day for so long. Nothing was going to stop me. She was determined that the wedding was not going to happen.
‘I did not think twice, I would have walked down the aisle in my knickers and with black paint over my face if I had to.’
Eastwood was handed a 10-month sentence, suspended for 12 months, in addition to 160 hours of unpaid work after pleading guilty to two offences of criminal damage.
Since her wedding, Mrs Monk has suffered depression and is unable to work.
In a victim impact statement, the 35-year-old told Maidstone Crown Court the incident ‘changed my outlook on life and made me question whether I had done something really bad’.
She said it has had a ‘dramatic impact’ on her life, adding that she became ‘extremely emotional and started crying’ while providing a police statement following the attack.
Mrs Monk said she would have struggled to ‘get out of bed’ without the support of her husband and children – and that she has lost her dignity.
At the time of her wedding Mrs Monk had just had a cancer scare, which she said Eastwood knew about but ‘still decided to ruin the most important day of my life’
Mrs Monk had to borrow another dress to walk down the aisle in, which was fetched by an usher. She married her childhood sweetheart Ken two hours after the attack
The victim added that the incident ‘turned the most special day of my life into the worst memory I will never forget’.
The couple cancelled their honeymoon to the Maldives as a result.
Prosecutor Pietro Matarazzo told the court on Tuesday: ‘Her wedding dress turned black. It was splattered with paint, as were her eyes, face, and skin.’
Eastwood admitted it was a revenge attack to the author of a pre-sentence report and pleaded guilty despite answering ‘no comment’ to all questions put to her by police during a voluntary interview three months after the incident.
Defending, Clement Idowu said Eastwood ‘wished to apologise’ to Mrs Monk.
He told the court of her depression, adding that the case had ‘taken a toll’ on her mental health – however no details about why she launched the revenge attack were revealed.
He said Eastwood was ‘fearful’ of a custodial prison sentence.
Judge Oliver Saxby KC said the defendant had turned Mrs Monk’s wedding into a ‘nightmare’, adding that Eastwood ‘wanted to wreck her day’.
Newly weds Mr and Mrs Monk are pictured after the ceremony despite the cruel attack two hours before
He described Eastwood’s actions as ‘horrid and nasty and mean’.
In addition to a suspended sentence and unpaid work, the defendant was handed a 10-year restraining order.
She was told to pay £5,000 in compensation, split between £4,000 to Mrs Monk and £1,000 to Oakwood House.
After sentencing Mrs Monk said she will never accept her sister-in-law’s apology, adding that she believed the punishment was ‘too light’.
The victim told KentOnline she and her husband do not celebrate their anniversary after what happened but that they plan to renew their vows on the same date to create new memories.
