A WOMAN shoved down a flight of stairs and brutally beaten by her sister revealed: "I thought I'd never get out alive."

She told how she has been left scarred for life and how a friend - a staff nurse at hospital - failed to recognise her due to the injuries inflicted by her sister Lisa Atherton.

After mother-of-two Atherton, was jailed for three years and one month for the drunken and unprovoked attack, she said: "I really did think I was going to die that night."

Violence erupted when the pair returned to their mother's Darlington home with other relatives and friends after what was said to have been a bid to heal a rift in the family.

Teesside Crown Court heard they visited the Burtree Inn to celebrate their mother's birthday, and returned to the Salters Close flat in mid-May.

Prosecutor Jenny Haigh said 36-year-old Atherton suddenly became aggressive and began screaming and swearing.

"Without warning, the defendant launched herself out of her chair and attacked (her sister), throwing a punch which missed. A second blow knocked her to the floor. The defendant was kicking her and punching her as she was lying on the floor."

Others bundled Atherton into a bathroom, barricading her in, but she broke free and pushed her sister down the stairs.

"She hit the bottom with a thud, and remembers coming to," Miss Haigh said. "The defendant ran down shouting 'I'll f*****g kill you, I hope you die down there'.

"She said the pain was appalling. The defendant started kicking her viciously to the head, body, back, face and arms, punching her, and pulling her hair out."

The woman suffered a broken wrist and extensive bruising to her right arm, face, shoulderblade, head, back and hand.

"I'm lucky to be alive," she said. "It has left me with major injuries. I have permanent scarring. I was the victim of a brutal and unprovoked assault.

"I was hospitalised for three days. A friend on the ward didn't recognise me because of the swelling and bruising."

She added that she suffers panic attacks and hyperventilates as a result.

Robert Mochrie, mitigating, said the only explanation for the attack was that mother-of-two Atherton, of Augusta Close, Darlington, had drunk too much.

Judge Howard Crowson told her as she sobbed in the dock: "This is going to be your first prison sentence, and it means you won't be with your child for a while.

"This was clearly a fall-out amongst family. It is really not clear why you lost your temper and behaved like you did. The only real explanation is you may have have had more drink than was good for you."

Mr Mochrie said Atherton, who admitted attempting to cause grievous bodily harm with intent and assault occasioning actual bodily harm, was "appalled".

"This is a woman who has never troubled the courts before and is ordinarily of good standing," he said. "This was a war between two sisters and it got out of hand that day.

"She is, in hindsight, appalled by her actions. In sobriety, she would never have acted in this way."