A 12-year-old boy who went for a weekend visit with his mum ended up witnessing a drunken attack by her on her partner.

Hyndburn magistrates heard the boy's harrowing account of the incident, which was also played out in front of two nine-year-old girls, one of them a guest in the house.

The court was told how Fionnuala Mary-Ann Hamill had drunk three pints of lager and two pints of Southern Comfort and coke on the night of the incident and her partner, Carl Nuttall, accepted he had drunk 10 pints of lager and was also drunk.

The boy told how when he arrived on Friday evening they had both already started drinking and they carried on. At some stage his mum ordered a takeaway but when this arrived Mr Nuttall said he would save his till later and this started an argument.

"Mum threw her food on the floor," the boy said in his statement. "By now she was very drunk and she started smashing up the cabinet and CDs."

The boy cleared up the food his mother had thrown on the floor and took Mr Nuttall's into the kitchen but when he came back his mum was hitting Mr Nuttall.

He told how his mum picked up a piece of wood from the broken cabinet and threw it at Mr Nuttall but missed. She then picked up a larger thicker piece with four or five nails sticking out and threw it at his head, causing a wound.

Charlotte Crane, prosecuting, said the detailed account of a 12-year-old child "spoke volumes."

Peter King, defending, said Mr Nuttall had made it clear to the police that he did not want his partner prosecuted.

Hammill, 38, of Wordsworth Close, Oswaldtwistle, pleaded guilty to wounding Mr Nuttall.

She was made subject to community supervision for 18 months and ordered to pay £100 costs.