POLICE have warned young girls about their behaviour following separate outbreaks of violence in a public park in recent days.

The two incidents, in Peterlee's Woodhouse Park, are said to have involved girls from the Shotton Hall School in the town.

In one case, a group of girls, thought to be aged 11 to 14, was involved in an alleged unprovoked assault on a 12-year-old girl.

She was dragged from her bike and had clumps of hair pulled from her head, and was kicked and punched.

Police said on investigation it appeared the incident, last Saturday, involved a group of three girls arguing with two others over whose turn it was on swings.

In the second case, two 15-year-olds were involved in a fight following bad feeling between the pair.

One was said to have suffered facial scratches, in the scuffle, on Tuesday morning.

Although Peterlee police confirmed the incidents were unrelated, they said officers have visited the school to issue a warning over behaviour.

Parents of girls involved in the two incidents have also been spoken to by officers

Inspector Paul Harrison said the only links were that they both involved girls from the school and were in roughly the same area.