Woman, 22, caught on Ring doorbell camera attacking her neighbours with a bag containing a bottle of vodka as they were gardening... and is fined £40

A woman who attacked two of her neighbours with a bag containing a bottle of vodka as they were gardening was fined £40.

Claudia Carrington, 22, who a court heard has a history of drink-related violence, swung the bag at the two women, aged 61 and 51, hitting one of them. Carrington faced 10 different hearings and four aborted trials in what her solicitor described as a 'torturous passage through the courts' of the case after it finally came to a close.

A trial date was set four times and the victims turned up to testify, but each hearing was adjourned due to missing evidence, legal issues or Carrington turning up late, Tameside magistrates court heard.

After a protracted legal process which started in July 2021, prosecutors dropped two charges of assault occasioning actual bodily harm against Carrington after they agreed to accept her original version of events.

Carrington, of North Road, Clayton, Manchester, pleaded guilty to the lesser charges of common assault and as well as the fine, she was also ordered to undertake 20 days of rehabilitation activity with the probation service as part of a nine-month community order.

The case was listed to be heard a total of 16 different times with lawyers and magistrates present. Carrington will have to pay £180 costs, but the rest of the legal bill will be met by the taxpayer. Magistrates were told she has convictions for two common assaults going back to December 2013 and a previous conviction for an offence of violence in 2014.

The legal saga began on July 2, 2021, after Carrington was arrested over the altercation with the neighbours as she returned to her former home in Oldham following a shopping trip. Gareth Hughes, prosecuting, said the neighbours were 'doing some work