A YOUNG mother faces having a baby in prison after being locked up for 21 months for slicing a young girl’s face with a glass.

Though Rachel Skilton’s lawyer lobbied for her to be allowed to walk away with a suspended sentence, a judge at Maidstone Crown Court said immediate custody could not be avoided.

The court heard that teenage victim Nina Belarbi had been outside the Guinea Butt pub in Tunbridge Wells in January 2007 when she saw Skilton, 20.

Valeria Swift, prosecuting, said Miss Belarbi approached Skilton about an argument she had with others, and Skilton became aggressive.

Miss Belarbi told her to back off and calm down, but that Skilton’s boyfriend was urging her to fight.

Skilton grabbed a bottle, smashed it, and then picked up pieces of glass and swiped it across the victim’s face.

Miss Belarbi was left with blood pouring form her left cheek and needed of 20 stitches.

Skilton, of Connaught Park, Sandhurst Park, Tunbridge Wells, admitted unlawful wounding.

Edmund Fowler, defending, said: "She appreciates this was an unpleasant incident. She has a three-year-old son and is seven months pregnant."

Judge Timothy Pontius told Skilton: "I hope you have seen the photographs of the injury caused to Miss Belarbi, which are very serious indeed.

"For a young woman still in her teens to receive injuries of that nature, with a prospect of serious visible scars, must be something which causes considerable anguish."