A NURSERY worker has lost her job after she scarred another woman in a nightclub fight.

Chloe Ridsdale must pay the victim £1,200 for causing a wound near the victim’s eye that needed 22 stitches to close.

She will also be confined to her home every night for 12 weeks.

Rob Galley, prosecuting, said the 23-year-old hit the other woman with her foot and threw a glass at her in Jalou cocktail bar in Micklegate, York.

In a personal statement, the victim said: "This attack was completely unprovoked. I have never known anything like this happen before and I don't even know the person who assaulted me."

For Ridsdale, Jeremy Barton said she worked for a York nursery whose owner wanted to keep her on but had had to sack her after she pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm.

“This is completely out of character,” Judge Simon Hughes told Ridsdale, at York Crown Court.

“Why you did what you did, goodness only knows, perhaps you yourself are still wondering that.”

Ridsdale, of Crabmill Lane, Easingwold, cried as he passed a 16-month prison sentence, suspended for 12 months on condition Ridsdale observes a nightly curfew from 7pm to 7am for 12 weeks and does 150 hours' unpaid work. He also made a £1,200 compensation order.

Ridsdale had no previous convictions.

Mr Galley said that at about midnight the victim tried to help her boyfriend, who had been struck by one of a group of women.

As she struggled on the floor with a man associated with the women, Ridsdale, who was wearing platform shoes, hit her face or head and then, as she got up, threw a glass at her.

The victim was taken to hospital where she had 22 stitches put into her face near her right eye and was left with a small scar.

Mr Barton said the man the victim was struggling with was Ridsdale's boyfriend and she had pushed the victim with her foot to get her off him.

She had not intended to cause the injuries and was genuinely remorseful.

He handed in references that said Ridsdale was a caring person including from parents of children she had cared for.