A petition condemning the two-year jail sentence handed down to a beauty therapist who slashed another woman’s face with a broken glass has collected more than 700 signatures.

Briton Natalie Simpson, 25, was jailed last month after pleading guilty to unlawfully wounding Alexandra Wheatley with a champagne glass at a New Year’s Eve party in what prosecutors described as “a vicious, unprovoked attack with a potentially lethal weapon”.

Ms Wheatley needed stitches to the wound on her lips, and is now scarred.

But according to a post on the website petitionbuzz.com, Simpson “is of good character and is classed as the lowest risk of re-offending”.

The post also claims that the beautician was initially given a four-year jail term, but this was halved because of her guilty plea and previous clean record.

“Never before has an individual received a four-year sentence for such a crime with the judge even stating she would set an example of her,” the post states.

“Natalie is a 25 year lady who has been in Bermuda for five years, she has never been in trouble and has been an honest hard working resident for the whole time.

“Yes she made a mistake but this sentence means she will have to serve a minimum of 16 months for an incident for which she is wholly sorry for, the reason being expats are not eligible for parole in Bermuda because their work permits are revoked.

“Please sign this petition if you believe the sentence was unfair considering her honesty, no previous criminal record or arrests and current criminal cases in Bermuda, for example a young man in Bermuda was recently sentenced to six years for manslaughter whilst wielding a knife.

“Where is the consistency in the Bermuda Judicial system?”

As of press time last night, 718 people had signed the petition.

However, a majority of the 38 people who commented on the post were less sympathetic, claiming that Simpson “broke the law”, should “do the time” and “should be thankful she didn’t get a longer sentence”.