TWO schoolgirl bullies who left a teenager in hospital with a fractured cheekbone and a cracked skull have both been locked up for two and-a-half years.

Marie Booth and Hayley Short, from Darlington, were said to have carried out a "prolonged and vicious attack" on their victim, who was left needing treatment in hospital for four days, Teesside Crown Court heard yesterday.

The pair, who had dreadful records for violence, were allowed to be named in a rare move by Judge Peter Fox QC.

He said it was in the public interest that they should be identified.

The judge said: "The agony you put this girl through is difficult to imagine and you have indulged in other street attacks. You must learn a better way of treating people than by violent bullying."

Booth punched and kicked the 16-year-old school pal after accusing her of having sex with one of her ex-boyfriends.

Short joined in by stamping on her head after she protested she had done nothing, said prosecutor Shaun Dodds. Booth had told the sobbing girl: "Stop crying or I will put you 6ft under".

Their victim passed out twice from the beating she received. She was punched again by Booth, who was said to have warned her: "Don't tell your mum or we'll hit you again".

The girl pleaded with her assailants not do anything to her mother and to hit her instead.

The attack stopped after the girl's mother heard what was going on, after being called on her mobile phone, and ran to the scene to break it up.

It had taken place on school playing fields in Darlington during the evening of May 26 this year.

Booth, of Tees Drive, Darlington, already had three previous convictions for street assaults on girls. Short, of Greenbank Court, Darlington had two cases of bodily harm assaults on her record.

Both pleaded guilty to grievous bodily harm with intent, robbing the girl of her jacket and causing an affray.

Dan Cordy, for Booth, said: "She became a bully, but now recognises that this type of behaviour is not tolerable."

Deborah Sherwin, for Short, said: "She did not want to be seen as being not as hard as the others.

"She was drinking heavily and went off the rails."

The two girls, both 16, admitted their involvement to police and were said to be full of remorse.

A neighbour of Marie Booth, who lives on Darlington's Skerne Park estate, described her as a "good kid".

She told The Northern Echo: "I've never had any cheek off her, but then you don't know what they're like when they are with their friends."

According to the charity ChildLine, which receives more than 1,000 calls from children in the North-East every month, bullying is now the single biggest worry of callers.

The survey was backed by research from the University of Hertfordshire in 1999, which said 25 per cent of all British primary children are bullied.

Earlier this month, The Northern Echo revealed that the Samaritans in County Durham are training teenagers to counsel suicidal youngsters.

Six years ago, only two youngsters in County Durham committed suicide, while the most recent figures found 11 took their own lives, with bullying a major factor