Pickering woman Charlotte Anderson jailed for knocking friend unconscious by smashing glass bottle over her head after drink-and-drug binge

Charlotte Rose Anderson, 23, from Pickering, attacked the woman at her own home after the victim had cooked her a meal, York Crown Court heard.

Prosecutor Rachel Webster said the bottle “smashed on impact” after the victim was struck on the head.

The named victim, who also lives locally, fell to the ground and was temporarily knocked out. She suffered a 2cm wound just above her eye which required stitches, as well as bruising to her forehead and cheek.

She was left with a scar above her eye and had since quit her job after being “traumatised” by the incident.

Ms Webster said the incident happened on April 6 when Anderson and the victim spent the afternoon drinking and enjoying a meal.

When Anderson told the victim that a man she knew wanted to come round with more alcohol, the victim said she didn’t want him at her home because he had a “bad reputation”.

But he arrived anyway and soon he and Anderson, fuelled by drink, became loud and boisterous.

The victim asked him to leave, but by this time his mate was also at the house, helping himself to beer.

The victim, a mother-of-one, asked him to leave too, but as she walked towards the back door, Anderson sidled up to her and inexplicably hit her on the head with the bottle.

The force of the blow knocked the victim to the floor and she was “unconscious for a short period”.

She had to have sutures inserted around her eye under anaesthetic. The doctor who treated her said the wound was so close to the eye that the consequences could have been much more serious.

The victim said she “still sees the scar in the mirror every morning” which was a permanent reminder of the attack which “traumatised” her.

“She doesn’t feel safe in her home anymore and has been seeking help from her GP,” said Ms Webster.

Anderson, of Firthlands Road, told police she didn’t remember the incident because she was drunk and that she had no intention of harming her friend.

She was charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm and admitted the offence, appearing for sentence on Tuesday October 18.

Her barrister Nick Peacock said that alcohol was behind the “thoroughly unsavoury incident” but otherwise “there doesn’t seem to be any reason why this happened”.

“Drink is the problem [Anderson] has,” he added.

He said it was a “moment of madness” and that Anderson had put a towel over the victim’s head to stem any bleeding after hitting her with the bottle.

Mr Peacock said that on the day in question Anderson had binged on Diazepam and booze after hearing some tragic news about a friend.

He added that in recent years Anderson had been “drinking herself into a stupor”.

Judge Sean Morris said the effect on the victim, who “could have been blinded”, had been “devastating”.

He told Anderson: “The victim was a friend who invited you into her own home and cooked you a meal.

“When she said she didn’t want male people coming to the house with more drink, something inside you clicked. You were clearly drunk and…you smashed a bottle over her head.

“Customers at work kept asking her what the scars were about and all the bruising, so much so that she left her work and couldn’t work anymore.”

He added: “You clearly have an issue with drink [and] I’m not convinced that…you are capable of rehabilitation.”

Jailing Anderson for six months, the judge said her behaviour was “unacceptable”.