A woman suffered a broken nose when she was allegedly attacked by a fellow mother at the gates of a school.

Rachael Harvey, 33, has gone on trial at Carlisle Crown Court. She denies one charge which alleges she assaulted Sarah Robinson, causing actual bodily harm, on June 15 last year.

Giving evidence, Miss Robinson spoke about years of “ill feeling” between the pair.

Just before 9am she left the school, not looking at Harvey as she approached.

“She called me a skank,” Miss Robinson alleged to jurors. “Then I said ‘who do you think you are talking to?’.

“She grabbed hold of my head. She then pushed me down and then repeatedly punched me in the face.”

Miss Robinson added: “She had me down by the hair; I upper-cutted twice to try and get her off me.

Miss Robinson claimed she was pushed into a road before leaving the scene. “I was in a physical mess,” she told the jury.

She called police and attended hospital. She spoke of suffering a black eye, a swollen face and “felt bruised all over”; and sustaining a broken nose which later required surgery.

During cross-examination, Harvey’s lawyer Anthony Parkinson suggested Miss Robinson’s account was a “pack of lies”. “No, it is not,” Miss Robinson responded.

Opening the case, prosecutor Ciaran Rankin had told the jury Harvey, of Robert Owen Avenue, Cleator Moor, was arrested by police.

“She was quite clear in relation to her version of events when she was interviewed under caution. She said she was the one who had been attacked; she was the one who had been abused,” said Mr Rankin.

“They began to fight because of the abuse and the attack she (Harvey) had been subjected to.”

The trial continues.