A CARER and her boyfriend who kicked and punched a mentally handicapped woman were both put behind bars yesterday.

The judge told the pair that the attack on the woman, who has a mental age of seven, was appalling.

She was left with cuts to her head and a black eye, and her father, who tried to rescue her from the house, had to call the police, said Aisha Megyery, prosecuting at Teesside Crown Court.

The carer, Gemma Nichols, 20, told police she lost her temper after the woman accidentally tripped her up at her home in South Bank, near Middlesbrough.

Nichols and her boyfriend, Scott Tyson-Simister, 22, both admitted kicking the woman.

Nichols told police that she was paid £10 a day to care for the woman, who she said could be difficult.

Jonnie Walker, defending Nichols, said she deeply regretted the incident and wished to apologise.

Peter Sabiston, for Tyson-Simister, said "It was a reckless and stupid act by someone who should have known better, but it was not a malicious act."

The judge Recorder Paul Isaacs said: "Care of the mentally handicapped is a difficult but certain disciplines must be maintained. This is comparable to assaulting a child."

Nichols, of Newton Road, Redcar, east Cleveland, was sent to a young offenders' institution for six months, and Tyson-Simister, of Broadway West, Dormanstown, was jailed for three months after they pleaded guilty to a joint charge of assault.