Ambulance worker tried to kill boss over rota row

In a text, Stacey Smith told a friend she had "smashed her head in"

An ambulance worker who tried to kill her boss in a "frenzied" hammer attack after an ongoing row over shifts on a staff rota has been jailed.

Stacey Smith waited outside her boss's home on Tameside before the unprovoked attack on the morning of 11 November 2023.

The 46-year-old later texted a friend to say "I've smashed her head in - Oopsie xx" after leaving her victim with "serious head injuries", police said.

Smith, from Newton Heath in Manchester, was found guilty of attempted murder and jailed for 20 years, with a five year licence period to follow.

Manchester Crown Court heard she told police she had a disagreement with her manager about shift patterns after their relationship had deteriorated since the Covid pandemic.

She screamed at her boss and threatened to kill her as she attacked her outside her home at 05:30 GMT.

'I've done it'

The court heard she struck her victim repeatedly in the head with the hammer, causing serious injuries and breaking her wrist as she tried to defend herself.

The pair had worked together since 2017.

Neighbours rushed to help the injured woman and gave her first aid, while placing the hammer in a plastic bag to so it could later be forensically examined by police.

Smith later texted a friend and wrote: "I've done it - I've smashed her head in -Oopsie xx!”

She also outlined plans to "go on the run" in Liverpool.

But she eventually handed herself in at a police station and was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder.

She was also sentenced for possessing an offensive weapon, an offence she had admitted, and given a restraining order banning her from contacting the woman.

Det Con Stephen McNee said a "violent woman had been take off the streets".

Smith's boss had suffered life-changing physical injuries that "may heal but the mental trauma of the attack will stay with the victim for life", she said.

"I’d like to thank her for her bravery in supporting us with our investigation."

Correction 18th November: This article’s headline originally described Stacey Smith as a medic and was amended the following morning to correctly refer to her as an ambulance worker.