NEWNHAM TV make-up artist Kirstie Stanway's claim that her husband assaulted her has been rejected by a court – after she was accused of using her professional skills to fake her injuries.

Ms Stanway – who has worked on Casualty, Holby City, and horror film Sleepy Hollow – denied fabricating bruises on her stomach to incriminate her businessman husband Michael Gwilliam.

She insisted that the 37-year-old construction company boss attacked her after she confronted him about a picture of his scantily-clad mistress which she had found on his phone.

As well as bruising on her stomach she also had a large bruise on her right breast and a lump on her head, she told Gloucester Crown Court.

Pictures of the stomach bruises were shown to the court – but Mr Gwilliam's lawyer, Lloyd Jenkins, suggested to her that they were 'samples of your work'.

Showing her photos of actors she had made up to look badly injured in films and TV programmes, Mr Jenkins reminded her she had worked on Casualty from 1999 to 2004 as well as 'gory' films like Sleepy Hollow.

"I need to put to you that you have faked your injuries. You are good at it?" said the solicitor.

"Absolutely not," said mother-of-one Ms Stanway. "It would have washed off if it was fake."

Mr Jenkins suggested that she was 'a woman scorned' who had made up the assault claim to get revenge on her husband for cheating on her with his mistress. Again she replied: "No."

Managing director Mr Gwilliam, formerly of Newnham-on-Severn, but now of Nine Wells Close, Berry Hill, had been convicted by Cheltenham magistrates in May of assaulting his wife by beating her on October 30 last year.

He had been sentenced to a six-months' jail term suspended for a year with six months supervision and 250 hours of unpaid work as well as compensation to his wife of £200 and costs of £850.

But he denied assaulting her and appealed against his conviction to the crown court.

He said it was she who had attacked him after finding the picture on his mobile phone when he was asleep on the sofa after returning home from his local pub, the Ship at Newnham, where he had drunk about five pints.

"I was woken by being hit around the head," he said. "She was screaming and shout-."

At no stage did he kick her as she had alleged, he said.

Asking the court to allow the appeal, Mr Jenkins said: "She is an expert make-up artist. She can come up with pretty damned convincing injuries if she wants. She has the skill and the knowledge – it is

what she does for a living.

He said he was startled and confused and put up his hands to protect his head as she hit him 2-3 times. He took hold of her wrists to defend himself, he said.

"As I did that, my phone fell to the floor. She was screaming – she'd

gone berserk"

He said his wife's shouting and screaming woke their baby daughter and

he was concerned about the impact on her so he left the room and went

outside for a smoke. But his wife followed him and threw a glass of

wine at him, he alleged.

He said he then went upstairs to go to bed in the spare room. But she

ran up behind him to attack him and tripped over an ornamental metal

bird bath, falling onto her hands and knees, he said.

At no stage did he kick her as she had alleged, he said.

Asking the court to allow the appeal, Mr Jenkins said "She is an

expert make-up artist. She can come up with pretty damned convincing

injuries if she wants. She has the skill and the knowledge – it is

what she does for a living.

"If you see Casualty and Holby City she does all those cuts and

bruises and whatnot. She has done some fantastic things."

Judge William Hart, sitting with two magistrates, upheld the appeal and quashed Mr Gwilliam's conviction.

The judge said there were no witnesses to the alleged assault and the court felt unable to be sure that Ms Stanway was giving a truthful account of what happened.

As the burden was on the prosecution to prove the assault rather than

for Mr Gwilliam to disprove it the appeal was allowed, he said.

The judge described Ms Stanway as "a successful career woman who knows

her own mind and is capable of standing up for herself."

He went on "We find there was a heated row between this married couple

and there may have been some manhandling of one by the other. It was

certainly a heated and unpleasant argument, as one would expect.

"We think there was some physical contact between the two but looking

at the case as a whole we are unpersuaded that the prosecution has

made out that this was a criminal assault by Mr Gwilliam upon his

wife.

"None of the extraneous evidence has sufficient impact to show that

the complainant is a witness of truth who can be safely relied upon."

The court had been told that the couple married in 2006 and have a

daughter Lola, who was about 6 months old at the time of the incident.

The marriage was already rocky at the time of the alleged assault

because Mr Gwilliam had been having an affair, the court heard.

Ms Stanway, who has worked as make up artist on films and TV

programmes including Smack the Pony, Springwatch, the Six Wives of

Henry VIII, Timewatch, Skins and An Ideal Husband, did not go to the

police until 20 days after the alleged assault.