A "LONELY, inexperienced and isolated" young woman who bit a baby has been spared prison.

Danielle Holmstrom, 24, bit the six-month-old boy by sinking her teeth into his stomach then throwing him on to a bed "as if his arms were made from elastic".

Holmstrom bit the baby so hard she nearly drew blood. The child also suffered serious bruising to his chest, belly, chin and ear.

Prosecuting at Newcastle Crown Court, Robin Patton said the abuse was discovered when Holmstrom's friends told the baby's great aunt they were concerned.

He said one of her friends saw a very significant bite to the baby's abdomen and a fingernail puncture to the infant's left calf.

"Holmstrom had been in a real temper with the child and had thrown him on to the bed as if his arms were made of elastic. The room was littered with numerous empty beer cans," he said.

Holmstrom, of Bunyan Avenue, Biddick Hall, South Shields, told police she bit the child "only playfully", but later admitted cruelty to a child by wilful assault.

Jane Waugh, mitigating, said Holmstrom's life was marked by tragedy; she suffered from depression and was lonely and isolated.

Holmstrom agreed to complete three years community rehabilitation.