"Parenting Expert" Bit Stallholder

When new-fangled anger management and self help techniques go wrong, some people have no qualms about resorting to good old fashioned violence:

A parenting expert bit a market stallholder after a row about getting a refund for two pairs of shoes her twin daughters had bought.

Psychologist Agnes Remice, 47, the boss of lottery-funded 21st Century Parenting, lost her temper and sank her teeth into Kevin Bishenden when he tried to stop her taking money from a till.

The attack, which took place in front of Remice’s two teenage girls, was so ferocious the victim later told officers ‘she nearly bit through to the bone’.

The respected psychologist’s career is now under threat after she was found guilty at Inner London Crown Court of causing actual bodily harm.

Sentencing Remice, from Camberwell, South-East London, to a three-month suspended jail term, Judge Simon Gerald also recommended the mother-of-four attend an anger management course.

The court heard her daughters had each bought a pair of shoes for their school prom from the Shu-x stall in a South London indoor market in June last year.

However, unhappy with their purchase they returned the following day with their mother to get their money back. When Remice was told the stall had a policy of no refunds she tried to take cash from a till.

Amrita Luchmee, 32, who runs Shu-x said: ‘She was climbing into my stall screaming. It would have been funny, if she wasn’t so scary.

She then hugged our till and tried to prise it open.’ Neighbouring pet stall-holder Mr Bishenden then intervened and Remice bit him on the left forearm.

Miss Luchmee added: ‘She left a horrible wound in his arm and the doctors said if she’d bitten any deeper she would have taken a chunk out.’

Remice’s 17-year-old daughters were later reprimanded by police for wrecking the stall as they walked away.

Judge Gerald told Remice: ‘You are a trained counsellor with a degree in psychology and are trained in dealing with special needs children.

‘You are trained to deal with people in these situations. It was a serious attack using weapons, namely your teeth.

'At any time you could have walked away or dealt with things calmly, but you chose not to do that. The public needs to be protected from behaviour like this.’

Remice’s website, which is supported by National Lottery funds, boasts: ‘Agnes’s project aims to support parents in building effective parenting skills.

Agnes is keen to help young parents with the everyday aspects of raising their children as well as taking care of themselves.’

Her project is supported by lottery-funded charity UnLtd, of East London. Remice, who had claimed she was acting in self defence, may have to find a new career, according to her lawyer Paul Sharkey.

He told the court: ‘That moment of madness means all has come to nought.’

The court ordered Remice to do 175 hours of community service and pay £500 compensation to Mr Bishenden.

Remice is also listed as a consultant for Vassell Training Services, which provides training and consultancy services for NHS Trusts and Government office.

The firm’s website describes her as: ‘Agnes Remice BSc (Consultant) Mental Health Specialist’.