'Pram rage' couple admit attacking mother-of-two on bus

A couple with a child in a buggy admitted attacking a mother on a London bus after her pushchair accidentally nudged theirs.

Amy Boyle, 19, launched a four-letter tirade at Leila de Aguiar, spitting at her and threatening to punch her. Boyle's partner, Nathaniel Pope, 21, smashed her head into a hand rail three times and dragged her across the bus by her hair, Hendon magistrates were told. He threw her out of the doors and kicked her as she lay in the road.

Ms de Aguiar, 23, suffered "repeated and sustained violence" and even used her child's umbrella in a desperate bid to defend herself, said prosecutor Priya Valentine. She was travelling on a No83 in Hendon with her daughters, aged three and seven months, in January.

The court heard that Pope repeatedly used "considerable force" to block the mother's attempts to get back to her children as they stood on the bus looking on helplessly. CCTV pictures of the attack, which the Standard ran in February with an appeal for witnesses, was described as "damning". The couple were arrested last month after a tip-off from a member of the public.

The court heard that Ms de Aguiar had made room for the couple when they got on with their child but then her buggy touched theirs as she moved it back into position. After the attack the pair casually wheeled their pushchair off the bus and walked away, leaving Ms de Aguiar bleeding from her ear and badly bruised.

Boyle, of Islington and Pope, of Kingsbury, pleaded guilty to common assault. Sentencing was adjourned for four weeks for reports.