Gemma Monk said that her sister-in-law Antonia Eastwood was ‘determined’ that her wedding was not going to happen – Eastwood threw black paint on Gemma on her wedding day
A bride stared down her sister-in-law in court as she was sentenced for covering her in black paint on her wedding day just moments before she was set to marry her childhood sweetheart.
The question of why Antonia Eastwood carried out the “spiteful” act is still on the mind of Gemma Monk after she married Eastwood’s older brother Ken. The 35-year-old was covered in black paint in front of stunned wedding guests at Oakwood House Register Office in Maidstone in 2024.
The incident led to Eastwood, 49, being sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court for two offences of criminal damage earlier this month. Gemma said she stared at a shaking Eastwood during the hearing.
The bill for repairs and “loss of revenue” at Oakwood House was believed to exceed £5,000, the court was told. Gemma said that Eastwood was “determined that the wedding was not going to happen”.
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But the stunt didn’t stop Gemma, who said “nothing” was going to prevent her from marrying her husband-to-be.
“I would have walked down the aisle in my knickers and with black paint over my face if I had to,” a resolute Gemma told Kent Online.
Gemma did get married that day, despite some tears after Eastwood’s cruel stunt. The mum-of-two borrowed a dress fetched by an usher after scrubbing her face and body in a changing cubicle and proudly walked down the aisle to marry her long-term companion Ken.
Eastwood and her husband were not invited to Gemma and her partner’s wedding after a feud was sparked in September 2023. Gemma had been wrongly accused of “trying to trip up” Eastwood during her wedding to Ashley in Dover at that time. Ken, 39, and Ashley had once been close friends, with Ashley even introducing his sister to Ken when she was 14.
The climax of the feud then came on May 24, 2024, at Gemma and Ken’s wedding. In an impact statement read to court, Gemma said having paint thrown over her by her brother’s wife “changed my outlook on life and made me question whether I had done something really bad, whether I had done something wrong”.
Gemma, a mental health worker, said through tears: “This has had a dramatic impact on my life. Even while I was providing this statement at the police station, I got extremely emotional and started crying while talking about the incident. Since the incident, if it wasn’t for my children or my family, I don’t think I would even get out of bed to care for myself.
“I have lost all my dignity and good habits in life. I have lost who I used to be.”
She added that what was supposed to be the “most special day of my life” turned into the “worst memory” and one she or her family will never forget.
The horrible ordeal Gemma had to endure also came at a time of a cancer scare. At the time, she had lost weight and gone down to a size four. Gemma said Eastwood knew about her medical problems but “still decided to ruin the most important day of my life and put me at risk”.
Gemma and Ken also had to cancel their honeymoon in the Maldives.
Recalling her wedding day, she said: “I had a gut feeling, a bad feeling that something was wrong when I got out of the car with my dad. But he said it must be nerves.”
The incident happened as Gemma stepped into a cream-walled hallway with her dad, Jason, her flower girls and her bridesmaids. Suddenly, her name was called out and she thought someone had trodden on her £1,800 dress.
It was then she saw the black paint out of the corner of her eye. Gemma’s “eyes, face and skin” were covered in black paint, along with her pristine white dress, prosecutor Pietro Matarazzo told the court.
Mr Matarazzo also referred to the paint as dye at the time, but it was never forensically tested. Whatever the substance was, the stains could not be removed, scuppering Gemma’s plans of handing it down to her daughter Naomi.
When Gemma realised it was Eastwood who was the culprit, she grabbed her by the hair, but she managed to get away. Eastwood, questioned by the police three months later, answered “no comment” to everything. She later pleaded guilty to the offences and then admitted to the author of a pre-sentence report prepared by the probation service that the incident was a revenge attack.
Gemma and Ken, who live with their 18-year-old son Tyler and daughter Naomi, 11, in Herne Bay, had been saving for years for their £8,000 wedding at Oakwood House, where Gemma’s birth was registered.
The wedding at the house was for around 50 guests, followed by a reception at The Fields at Aylesford.
Clement Idowu, defending, said Eastwood wanted to reiterate her “wish to apologise” through a letter written to the court.
Mr Odowu also said Eastwood had suffered from depression and that proceedings had “taken a toll” on her mental well-being and she was “very fearful at the prospect of going to prison”.
Details on why Eastwood acted in revenge were not revealed during the hearing.
Judge Oliver Saxby KC acknowledged that “emotions were high” but that those involved should move on.
He said that sparing the defendant’s jail time was “not being kind or bending over backwards” to be kind and was following sentencing guidelines.
Imposing a 10-month jail term suspended for 12 months with 160 hours of unpaid work, the judge said: “This was meant to be a special day for Gemma Monk and her family. Courtesy of your conduct, it turned into a nightmare…
“It is not so much that what you did was upsetting and frightening in the moment, and it was both of those. It was also that you, by what you did, deprived her and her family – the wedding party – of the occasion they deserved and the memories that anyone who gets married cherishes.
“Worse than that, there is a lingering suspicion that even if you do trigger regret now, it’s been a while coming, that deep-down for some time you thought she deserved it.
“All this stuff about it being on the spur of the moment – yeah, right. You got it into your head that you wanted to wreck her day. And you did, and it was horrid and nasty and mean.” Eastwood was told to pay £4,000 to Gemma and £1,000 to Oakwood House.
Gemma said: “I will never accept her apology. I thought the sentence was too light. She should have got at least 23 months for the wait we have had to get this to court.” Despite this, Gemma has said she now wants to move on.
She said: “On that day, I managed to smile for the camera because I was marrying the man I love. But we don’t celebrate our anniversaries because of what happened. We plan to take our vows again and on the same date. That way, it may override the memory, and we’ll be able to celebrate… and maybe we’ll go on that honeymoon.”
