Lady Pea row: Sex therapist loses fight to quash conviction

Patricia Ramshaw, who is embroiled in a long-running legal dispute with the wealthy Cator family over the house she rents on Ranworth Broad, appeared at Norwich Crown Court yesterday to challenge a conviction for assaulting Michael Chatha.

The 54-year-old grandmother - who styles herself as 'Lady Pea' - was convicted of assaulting Mr Chatha on the night England lost to Italy in the final of the European Championships in 2021.

The dispute, which her ex-partner secretly recorded, saw the couple share furious exchanges and insults in a row triggered by a lamb kebab, before Lady Pea lashed out.

Mr Chatha described the strike as "an enormous blow to the back of the head", while Lady Pea insisted it was a slap to the face in self-defence.

An appeal hearing on Friday heard that Mr Chatha had been watching the football match with the couple's gardener, Woody, in the nine-bedroom home they were sharing in Reepham.

It heard that during a break in play, Mr Chatha had gone into the town to buy dinner, purchasing three lamb kebabs, chips and salad.

However, he claimed Lady Pea then became upset because she does not eat lamb and did not want chips.

Lady Pea, meanwhile, was in another room of the house tending to one of her dogs, Lola, who was recovering from spinal surgery that week.

The court was twice played a 12-minute audio clip of the argument between the couple - who were involved in a "toxic relationship" for 16 months - during which a strike is heard.

In the clip, Lady Pea is heard calling Mr Chatha a "w****r" while he repeatedly calls her "a venomous b***h".

Lady Pea told the court that during the heated argument, Mr Chatha had pressed her against the wall - sparking her reaction.

When asked by John Dye, for Lady Pea, why he happened to be recording the incident, he said that he did this "constantly to record the way she would change from nice to nasty in a split second".

Mr Chatha gave evidence in the court, at one point making the extraordinary allegation that Lady Pea had attempted to "cast a spell so spirits would kill me".

Giving her own evidence, Lady Pea admitted to striking Mr Chatha, but insisted this was in self-defence after being driven to the end of her tether.

"I absolutely acted in self-defence," she added.

Kenniesha Stephens, prosecuting, said that the audio recording - the only physical evidence presented to the court - showed "no evidence of her being threatened".

Lady Pea's conviction came at Great Yarmouth Magistrates Court in August 19 last year - more than a year after the incident on July 11, 2021.

Dismissing her appeal, Recorder Douglas Herbert said: "Whether it was a lamb or chicken kebab was the spark, but it does not appear to take much to cause an uproar between them.

"There may have been abuse verbally but there is nothing that we find that would have led Ms Ramshaw to believe she was in any way at risk - so do not believe this strike was in self-defence."

LADY PEA'S OTHER LEGAL DISPUTE

The court case comes with Lady Pea embroiled in a bitter row with the Cator family - from whom she rents a property, the Old House, in Ranworth.

Lady Pea moved into the house following the end of her relationship with Mr Chatha - who she separated from in October 2021.

However, the parties are now locked in a bitter tenancy dispute - which has played out in the tribunal courts.

The Cators say Lady Pea's menagerie of dozens animals are damaging the property, while Lady Pea says she has been left freezing and surrounded by mould.

This month, she was denied a rent refund after taking the Cators to a tribunal.