The daughter of an RAF commander swilled wine over a former friend before smashing a glass into her face in a devastating release of “drunken anger”. Jessica Cloke, 21, spent the night sinking drinks in a Cyprus pub before aggressively confronting her former friend Madison Bagley, shouting in her face before making three attempts to strike her.
Cloke, the daughter of RAF Group Captain Simon Cloke, who was serving commander of RAF Akrotiri at the time, left Wirral-born Ms Bagley with a gaping wound to her face following the assault captured on CCTV. A member of the victim’s family told the ECHO this week how the young woman, 20, had 50 stitches as part of major facial reconstruction surgery and had become “a shell of herself”.
The assault on August 22, 2025 happened in the Hamlet pub outside the military base, but inside the Sovereign Base Area (SBA), which has been treated as British soil since Cyprus gained independence in 1960. Cloke, who is in a relationship with a serviceman deployed on the Mediterranean island, initially denied a charge of causing grievous bodily harm but changed her plea on the first day of her trial at a closed court in Episkopi.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Defence told the ECHO: “Unacceptable and criminal behaviour has no place in our armed forces community. We can confirm that 21-year old Jessica Cloke has this week been sentenced to 14 months’ imprisonment following her conviction for an offence of causing grievous bodily harm under Sovereign Base Area law.”
Cloke was sentenced by Judge Brian Cummings KC, who usually sits on the UK northern circuit and is based in Liverpool, on Wednesday, according to court documents seen by the ECHO. She will now serve her prison sentence at Cyprus’s HMP Dhekelia.
Sentencing, Judge Cummings told Cloke: “You and Madison Bagley had at one time been very close friends but had fallen out badly some months before the offence…you both found yourselves in the Hamlet public house. You both had a lot to drink. Witnesses relate that you had been talking angrily about Madison Bagley and about the background of your falling out.
“You appeared to harbour a grudge against her. Whether or not you had cause – and that is not something I have been asked to decide in this case – it was no basis for you to assault her.”
Addressing Cloke, the judge added: “The CCTV footage shows you making your way around the bar area in some haste, almost at a trot, in order to catch up with Madison Bagley, who was walking away from your direction…as you get near, you are clearly shouting something in the victim’s direction.
“You and she then stand face-to-face, having what appears to be a heated verbal exchange. You are taller and bigger than she is. You are holding a wine glass in your hand and you throw the contents into the victim’s face, before turning away. She reacts by taking the lid off a water bottle that she was holding and tipping the water over your head from behind.
“You then turn and make three attempts in very quick succession to strike her with your now empty wine glass. I sentence you on the basis that only the first of those attempts made contact and that it was only on contact with the victim’s face that the glass broke and caused all of the physical injuries.”
The court heard how Rock Ferry woman Ms Bagley, who is a military dependent, the child of someone serving at the base, had a “gaping vertical gash” on her right cheek which was “perilously close to her eye”. She continues to have treatment for her injuries.
The proceedings heard Cloke had not consumed alcohol since the drunken attack. She had also been hospitalised as part of ongoing care into her mental health, her barrister told the court.
Judge Cummings said: “In my judgement, the CCTV footage tells the story. It was you who pursued and accosted the victim in the public house, you then assaulted her by throwing your wine in her face and, when she then retaliated by pouring water over you, you then smashed a glass in her face.
Madison Bagley’s injuries after being attacked by Jessica Cloke at the Sovereign Base Area in Cyprus (Image: Bagley family)
“In my judgement none of that was self-defence. Focusing on your use of the glass, if anything that was grossly excessive and unwarranted retaliation by you for her pouring water over you, something which you had yourself provoked by throwing wine in her face. Retaliation is not the same as self-defence. You were not acting out of fear or any need to protect yourself. This was drunken anger. You started it. You were the aggressor.”
Ms Bagley’s brother, MacKenzie, told the ECHO this week about the ongoing impact the attack had on his sister. “She’s been really brave during the whole thing, but you can see how much of a detriment it’s had on her,” he said. “Before the attack she was really outgoing and you could have a laugh with her.
“During the whole trial process she was a shell of herself. She would sleep all day for days at a time. You could barely get a conversation out of her whilst she was in Cyprus. She came home for two weeks after Jessica pleaded guilty and she seemed like a massive weight had been lifted.
“During sentencing Jessica’s barrister was trying to play down the effects that it has had on Madi and obviously having to listen to that has had another negative effect. Madi has had facial reconstruction surgery in which she has had 50 stitches inside and out. She now has to wait for a second surgery on her face because it cannot be done because her face still isn’t healed correctly.”
Group Captain Cloke served as the commander of RAF Akrotiri, a large military airbase integral for British and allied operations in the Middle East, for three years. He was the base commander at the time of his daughter’s crimes, leaving the role soon after. He was promoted to air commodore and is currently serving as Chief of Staff at RAF High Wycombe.
Mr Bagley, now of Prenton, said: “I think (Jessica Cloke) is vile, she has shown no remorse whatsoever, she has not made an apology for what she has done and I believe my family shares my beliefs. Madison and her were inseparable until a few months before the attack which just made it that much more of a shock.”