A woman who attacked another mum after a scrap between two boys at school has narrowly avoided jail.

Chelsey Knox “lost control” when she heard about the playground punch-up and struck the woman, leaving her with cuts and bruises which required hospital treatment.

She had followed the victim from school and flashed her down while honking the horn of her red Citroen C4 until the parent pulled over.

As both women got out of their vehicles near a roundabout, Knox attacked the mother of the boy, who had allegedly been bullying another child, while others with her apparently surrounded her car.

The 33-year-old hit the mum in front of several children and a court heard the victim was left with cuts and bruises as well as swelling to her face and had to undergo a CT scan at hospital.

The court heard the child who had told Knox about the brawl was not her son but she had been picking him up after a sports session for a friend.

Knox, of Porchester Close, Longfield, was later charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm which she admitted when she appeared before magistrates in Maidstone on September 9.

At the time the court heard the incident happened on April 4 in Longfield and the victim had been left with cuts to her left ear and lip, and severe bruising to her face.

Sentencing was adjourned to allow a pre-sentencing report to be carried out on her.

She returned to Sevenoaks Magistrates’ Court to hear her fate when the bench heard Knox had previous convictions for criminal damage and assault which occurred in 2010.

James Nichols, prosecuting, said the victim had been collecting her son at the time of the incident.

He added: “She saw flashing lights and bibbing from the defendant’s car horn so she stopped at the roundabout to see what the problem as she had never met her before.

“She also got out to protect her son and she was punched and kicked and her hair was pulled (by the defendant).

“She suffered swelling to her face and had to attend Darent Valley Hospital and thankfully there were no fractures but she had to undergo a CT scan and she was left with bruising and lumps and cuts to her lip and left ear.

“She was terrified for her safety and her children’s safety and was left in pain and shock.”

Karley Styles, defending, said although her client had been charged with actual bodily harm as a result of the cuts and bruises, she deemed the offence to be at the lower end of the sentencing guidelines.

She added: “It was nasty (the attack) but short-lived, but there was more than one blow.

“She is very lightly convicted and that is relatively old (the convictions).

“She is remorseful and that is genuine she’s not in a couple any more and separated a while ago.

“Her mum also passed away and she was also a carer for her sick gran who then passed away and these (deaths) were in quick succession and led her to drink more and social services were involved (with her family), but that (case) is closed now.

“Her partner moved back in, but not as a partner, but she’s lost her job and her friends (as a result of the attack) and is very isolated now, but she’s stopped drinking.

“She’s vulnerable and made some bad decisions when she was upset. Sometimes good people do something upsetting when they are upset, it’s what happened.”

The court heard Knox was upset that a child, who was the son of a close friend, was being bullied.

Ms Styles added: “She wanted to confront the child and the parent to speak with them, not in a heated way, but she lost control.

“She could have made a better decision, but it was spontaneous, she acted spontaneously, but it was for a short period of time.

“There have been no other issues since and she’s on benefits and if she goes to jail her children will lose their mum.”

The chairman of the bench told Knox the offence was “extremely serious” and passed the custody threshold and their starting point for that was 36 weeks’ custody.

The chairman added: “You chased down another person and the mum’s car was surrounded and she was dragged out of the car and you started to beat her.”

However, as a result of her early guilty plea, magistrates said they were prepared to reduce the sentence to 24 weeks’ custody, suspended for 18 months.

They stated their reasons as being the impact her custody would have on others, namely her children, and that there was a realistic prospect Knox could be rehabilitated.

She was also ordered to attend 25 rehabilitation sessions with probation and pay the victim £200 compensation.

Knox was also ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £154 and will pay what she owes the court at a rate of £20 a month.