By Anna Burdett

Last updated at 09:15, Saturday, 16 June 2012

A couple who broke a 15-year-old-girl’s jaw after kicking her repeatedly as she lay on the ground have received suspended prison sentences.

Carl Miller, who was a deputy manager of Home Bargains in Workington, admitted causing grievous bodily harm and assault while Debbie Turner, of Monkhouse Road, Salterbeck, also admitted the first charge.

Carlisle Crown Court heard yesterday how Miller, 27, of Islay Place, Workington, and Turner came across a group of three teenage friends as they walked along Cockfield Drive in Workington on New Year’s Eve.

Miller shouted that one of the group had stolen from his shop and ran at them with a fist raised. When the 15-year-old tried to help her friends, she was flipped onto her back by Miller and repeatedly kicked in the head by the pair.

After the attack, she needed a metal plate fitted in her jaw as it was broken in two places. She also saw a specialist at Carlisle’s Cumberland Infirmary for treatment to facial wounds.

The pair abandoned their attack and fled when a resident ran out of his house to intervene.

Miller and Turner were sentenced to 12 months in prison suspended for two years. They were ordered to complete 200 hours of community work and placed under a six-month curfew.

Turner was also ordered to pay £400 in compensation to the victim and Miller was placed under supervision for a year.

First published at 08:59, Saturday, 16 June 2012
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk