A thug launched a vicious assault on a good Samaritan after she went to help another woman in a needle-strewn alleyway.

Jamie-Leigh Smith had just stepped outside her town centre flat for cigarette at 2am when she heard screams.

The 25-year-old ran barefoot into the alley adjoining the entrance to her home off Gabriel's Hill, Maidstone, to find an attack underway.

"He was standing over her," Ms Smith said. "I shouted at him to stop. I said I had called the police and started to back away.

"I walked towards the girl and then he came at me."

Ms Smith added: "He punched me in the face. I fell to the floor and he threw something at me. I thought he was going to kick me."

Police were called and both Ms Smith and the other victim were taken to hospital by family members.

Ms Smith says the alleyway, between a hairdresser and a nail bar, was strewn with used needles, human waste and other detritus.

She received a tetanus injection following concerns she had stepped on a used needle during the incident, which happened last Sunday.

The brave former beauty consultant says she is glad she intervened but would like to see more CCTV in Gabriel's Hill to make the area safer.

She said: "I would still do it all again. I am not sorry I did it. I am just sad about how it all turned out."

A 28-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of assault and bailed pending further enquiries.