A YOUNG mother involved in a drunken cat-fight with two cousins has been spared a prison sentence, but warned: “If you step out of line again you'll be in deep trouble.”

Chelsea McKie pushed and shoved Victoria Sanderson and Emma Sanderson when they clashed on a night out in Hartlepool last summer, Teesside Crown Court heard.

The 21-year-old shop worker also bit Emma Sanderson's finger leaving her with a wound which needed to be cleaned and stitched, said prosecutor Jackie Edwards.

She had been to an engagement party before going into town, and classed herself as "a nine out of ten" after downing four litres of wine, six double vodkas and two shots.

McKie, of Norfolk Close, Hartlepool, admitted two charges of common assault and one of unlawful wounding, and was given a suspended prison sentence.

The judge, Recorder Patrick Palmer, told McKie she was saved from immediate custody because of her age and the fact the other women were violent towards her.

He accepted the biting was “self-defence gone too far” and said: “If it had been the case you had attacked them, undoubtedly you would be going to prison immediately.

“If you get involved in any more fights or commit more offences you will have six months to start. If you step out of line again you may well be in very deep trouble.”

The six-month sentence was suspended for two years and McKie was also given 12 months of Probation Service supervision and was ordered to take an alcohol course.

The court heard that while she had no previous convictions, she has cautions from 2009 and 2011 for assaulting women – one in a pub and one who was a love-rival.

Miss Edwards told the court that the spark for the late-night trouble last June seemed to be that Emma Sanderson was in a relationship with McKie's ex-partner.

Ian Mullarkey, mitigating, said McKie suffered injuries herself – scratches to her cheek, nose, eyebrow and lip – in the fracas which erupted in two different pubs.