A YOUNG mum who assaulted and injured a pensioner in a parking row has walked free from court.

Burnley Crown Court had earlier heard how Emma McIntyre, 31, pushed Hilda Law to the ground after the victim complained about the defendant parking on the pavement outside a health centre in Waterfoot.

Mrs Law, who is in her 80s, had told a jury how McIntyre walked off and left her lying in the road.

The defendant, who has a serious medical condition similar to suffering strokes, was given a nine-month jail term, suspended for a year, after Judge Barbara Watson said her case was exceptional.

The defendant, of Park Road, Waterfoot, had earlier been convicted by a jury of assault causing actual bodily harm, committed in May. She denied the allegation and had no previous convictions.

June Morris, defending, said McIntyre's medical condition,, meant she suffered responses to extreme light and noise. McIntyre, who had a two-year-old son, had not been able to find employment because of her illness. The defendant had been distressed by circumstances surrounding Mrs Law's injuries, but mercifully the injuries were moderate.