A DRUNKEN teenage girl who launched an attack on an elderly woman on her doorstep has had her sentence cut on appeal.

Kelly Sayers, 19, of Oak Avenue, South Shields, South Tyneside, was sent to a young offenders' institution for 18 months when she appeared at Durham Crown Court last October after she admitted inflicting grievous bodily harm.

Cutting her sentence to 12 months, Justice Stanley Burnton, at London Criminal Appeals Court, ruled the original term had been excessive.

Last April, Sayers went to the home of a 60-year-old woman, whom Justice Burnton described as 5ft and weighing eight stone.

She was awoken by Sayers' shouts, and although she told her to go away, Sayers continued screaming and kicking the door.

When she opened the door and told her to stop, Sayers grabbed her hair then dug her nails into the victim's face.

Sayers then grabbed the woman's dressing gown and swung her into the wall of the house. The victim fell and fractured her wrist.

Allowing the appeal, Justice Burnton, said; "The sentencing judge accepted there was genuine remorse and she was tearful when she was with the probation officer.

"It is accepted before us that a custodial sentence for what was an extremely nasty assault, could be passed.

"But it has been urged on us that the sentence was excessive in the circumstances, given that the offence was out of character.