A thug who left a woman with a fractured cheek bone when she was attacked following a row outside a petrol station has walked free from court.

Sarah Widdowson punched her victim once to the face during the confrontation in Northallerton more than two years ago.

The 44-year-old got into an argument with a woman inside the Nisa store on Boroughbridge Road before the confrontation continued outside the shop when the defendant attacked his victim.

Teesside Crown Court heard how Widdowson left her victim with a serious facial injury and nerve damage following the attack in June 2020.

Uzma Khan, prosecuting, said the defendant was found guilty of unlawful wounding following a trial this year when she maintained she was provoked.

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She said: “While she was paying for her goods, the victim heard the defendant call her a ‘f***ing grass’ and the verbal dispute continued outside the store when the defendant continued to shout ‘who’s the f****** slag? Who’s the f****** slag’.

“The woman said she didn’t know what the defendant was talking about and then the defendant proceeded to punch her with a clenched fist to the left-hand side of her face.”

The court head how the victim initially believed painkillers would ease her pain but a medical examination showed she had suffered a fracture to the jaw.

Nicholas Askins, in mitigation said the punch was out of character for his client and urged the judge to spare the mother-of three from immediate custody.

He told the court that his client maintained that the injured woman had said something to her to provoke the attack but accepted the jury found her guilty.

Judge Howard Crowson sentenced Widdowson to a one-year community order with 20 rehabilitation activity requirement days after she delivered one blow that ‘caused more damage than you imagined’.

“It looks like there is some dispute festering and you both have your own views about that,” he said.

“Outside the shop you walked away and then you returned. Why you returned, you say she said something that angered you, she doesn’t accept that.

“It is hard to perceive a situation where you didn’t at least believe that you heard a slight of some kind because why would a woman of 44 of good character return and strike someone in the face.”

Widdowson, of Beech Grove, Northallerton, was also ordered to pay £250 compensation to her victim.

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