A WOMAN was attacked as she left a house where she was found sleeping off a drinking session.

Durham Crown Court heard that Kelly Gascoigne found the woman asleep in her boyfriend's bed and told her to leave.

As the 28-year-old woman left the flat and walked along Front Street, Sacriston, near Chester-le-Street, she felt a blow on the back of her head.

The court heard she fell to the ground and curled up as a number of blows were delivered by Gascoigne and a friend, Kim Clynes.

Jennifer Haigh, prosecuting, said she was kicked several times in the head and face, suffering a black eye, a swollen nose, cuts and bruises in the attack, in September last year.

Miss Haigh said Clynes committed another assault on the victim, punching her in the face, after they met in a pub, in Sacriston, in December.

When questioned about the first incident, Gascoigne told police the victim appeared, "off her face", a state she claimed she was often to be found in.

Miss Haigh said the victim had a drink-dependency problem and all three women had been drinking before the initial attack.

Gascoigne, 29, of Standerton Terrace, Craghead, near Stanley, and 26-year-old Clynes, of Charlaw Close, Sacriston, admitted a joint charge of assault, causing actual bodily harm.

Clynes also admitted a second charge of common assault.

Judge Beatrice Bolton told them: "You are both extremely lucky you are not going to prison today.

"You both have problems with drink and you need to do a lot more work in relation to your alcohol dependency."

Both were given nine-month prison sentences, suspended for 18 months, during which time they will be supervised by the probation service.