A “PETTY” argument over the hit children’s film Frozen led to a teenage tearaway unleashing a brutal assault on a drinking buddy, a court heard.

The 17-year-old, who is from Darlington but cannot be named for legal reasons, was drinking with her boyfriend and a 20-year-old woman on January 31 when a row about the merits of the animated musical comedy erupted into violence, Durham Crown Court was told.

The victim went upstairs to escape the teenager, but she kicked in the bedroom door, pulled her out of bed by her hair, dragged her downstairs and launched a “sustained attack” lasting about 30 minutes, prosecutor Paul Abrahams said.

She punched and kicked the woman from the living room to bathroom and back again and hit her with a bottle.

The house, in Spennymoor, County Durham, had been locked from the outside, denying the woman any means of escape; and the assault only ceased when the girl’s boyfriend warned the police might turn up.

The woman suffered a fractured cheekbone, permanent scarring under her nose, cuts, bruises and swelling.

The court heard the teenager, who had drunk a bottle of vodka, lager and other sprits, later boasted she couldn’t care less about the injuries she had caused, could have killed the woman and would attack her again.

In a statement read to the court, the victim said her injuries meant she had had to survive on baby food and mashed potato and postpone starting a college course.

Her depression had deepened and she was self-conscious about her scar, she said.

The teenager had seven previous convictions for 12 offences, including twice pulling other girls’ hair, kneeing them in the face and assaulting them. She can now add causing grievous bodily harm to that record.

Stephen Constantine, mitigating, said the teenager had suffered a traumatic childhood, was immensely insecure and some of what she said was “bravado”.

However, she had recently started engaging with professional help, he added, and was perhaps taking the “first steps towards turning the corner”.

Judge Christopher Prince said a “petty” argument had led to a sustained, repeated attack, leaving the victim seriously injured and “deeply disturbed”.

“Nothing but a substantial custodial sentence can be justified,” he said; and sentenced the teenager to four years in a Young Offenders’ Institution.