Dramatic footage shows the moment a bride was left covered in black paint following a “revenge attack” seconds before she was due to walk down the aisle.
Gemma Monk is forever haunted by the splattering from her sister-in-law at Oakwood House Register Office in Maidstone.
Now, CCTV provided by the Crown Prosecution Service shows the aftermath of the attack which left the 35-year-old and members of her bridal party covered in emulsion.
Gemma was about to tie the knot to childhood sweetheart, Ken Monk, with CCTV capturing her arrival at the Victorian mansion with friends and family, blissfully unaware of what was to come next.
The criminal damage, by Antonia Eastwood, who is married to Gemma’s older brother, Ashley, takes place off-screen, but the bride-to-be reappears out the front of the venue after the incident, while two people in black clothing can be seen running into a nearby car park.
The incident happened on May 24, 2024.
At around 12.23pm, Gemma comes into view on CCTV, wearing her dream, £1,600 wedding dress visibly splattered with black pigment from her veil to her train.
Gemma Monk covered in paint inside Oakwood House Register Office in Maidstone. Picture: Crown Prosecution Service
Later, footage from inside the corridor shows Gemma walking with her now ruined dress and veil in black and white, courtesy of the splattered emulsion.
She looks behind as she is taken back into the register office, where she is visibly distraught.
Seen trailing behind her is another victim in a stained bridesmaid dress, closely followed by another with paint all over her arm, before the footage finishes.
Remarkably, Gemma, pulled herself together, scrubbed her face and body in a changing cubicle and borrowed a dress fetched by an usher to marry her partner of more than 20 years.
Gemma and Ken, 39 who live with their son Tyler, 18, and daughter Naomi, 11, in Herne Bay, had been saving for years for their big day.
Speaking to KentOnline earlier this month, she said: “We had waited for that day for so long. Nothing was going to stop me.
“She was determined that the wedding was not going to happen.
Gemma Monk after her sister-in-law threw black paint over her on her wedding day
“I did not think twice, I would have walked down the aisle in my knickers and with black paint over my face if I had to.”
It comes after Eastwood, 49, who now lives in Manchester, was sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court for two offences of criminal damage.
The court was told that the bill for repairs and “loss of revenue” at Oakwood House was believed to exceed £5,000.
Another member of the bridal party is seen covered in paint inside Oakwood House Register Office in Maidstone. Picture: Crown Prosecution Service
Neither Eastwood nor her husband were invited to the nuptials following an ongoing feud which flared up after their wedding, which was a year before the Monks were married.
Gemma said that she had been wrongly accused of ”trying to trip up” Eastwood during her wedding to Ashley in Dover in September 2023.
After pleading guilty to the offences, Eastwood later admitted to the author of a pre-sentence report prepared by the probation service that the incident was a revenge attack.
Antonia pleaded guilty to criminal damage after throwing black paint over her sister-in-law’s wedding dress. Picture: Facebook
Before passing sentence, Judge Oliver Saxby KC acknowledged that while “emotions were high” and those involved would “never forget,” they should now move forward in their lives.
He also told the court that he was following sentencing guidelines and “not being kind or bending over backwards” by sparing the defendant an immediate spell behind bars.
But, imposing a 10-month jail term suspended for 12 months with 160 hours of unpaid work, he poured scorn on Eastwood’s actions and her attitude towards them.
“This was meant to be a special day for Gemma Monk and her family. Courtesy of your conduct, it turned into a nightmare,” he told her.
Eastwood was also handed a 10-year restraining order and told to pay £5,000 compensation – a total of £4,000 to her sister-in-law and £1,000 to Oakwood House – at a rate of £100 a month.