A woman who carried out a vicious attack in the street, repeatedly smashing her victim over the head with a rock, has been jailed for four years.

Alisha Hughes, 21, was walking in Fort Pitt Street, Chatham, with her boyfriend Phillip Skinner and his dog when Karla Shaw launched the attack happened on May 20 last year.

Maidstone Crown Court heard Skinner’s ex-girlfriend Donna Day called out to him from a window: “Is that your new bird?”

"This was an appalling attack on a woman... and you used your thumbs and a stone as weapons" - Judge Charles Byers

Drunk Shaw then approached and told Miss Hughes she wanted to speak to her. Shaw hit her twice in the face.

Miss Hughes ran off and banged on a door, but Shaw grabbed her by the neck and pushed her over.

Prosecutor Tom Dunn said Shaw pushed her thumbs in the victim’s eye and hit her in the face with a stone up to 13 times.

Her wallet fell out and Shaw told her: “If you give me your money I will leave you alone.” Shaw took £50 and tobacco and ran off.

Miss Hughes, who suffered cuts and bruises, told police: “She was hitting me and hitting me.”

Shaw, of Manor Road, Chatham, admitted robbery and assault.

The 24-year-old denied using a rock or stone in the robbery. She had been drug-free since being in custody, the court was told.

Shaw was earlier last week cleared of attempting to rob a punter while working as a prostitute. She denied the charge.

She was offering services to Huseyin Turkucu for £20 in his car near New Cut on December 9 last year when a knife was held to his throat.

Her boyfriend Samson Paine and Christopher Stanford then tried to rob the victim.

Paine, 25, of no fixed address, and Stanford, 49, of Corporation Street, Rochester, have admitted attempted robbery and will be sentenced later.

Judge Charles Byers told Shaw when sentencing her for the robbery: “This was an appalling attack on a woman who could not understand (why). It was a sustained attack and you used your thumbs and a stone as weapons.

“Your only mitigation is your early guilty plea. I am delighted you think you are putting your past behind you and I hope you will continue to do so.”

Karla Shaw and her boyfriend Samson Paine were threatened with being jailed for contempt when they snogged in the dock on Valentine’s Day.

But Judge Byers said he had put it out of his mind when sentencing Shaw for robbery and assault.

“You stood on a chair in the dock, which made me think you were going to jump over the dock,” he told her.

Dock officers had attempted to keep the canoodling couple apart as they went to embrace when remanded in custody.

But Shaw stood on a seat, threw her arms around Paine’s neck and planted a lingering kiss on his lips.

The unimpressed judge declared: “At the end of this case they will be sentenced for contempt. I am not having it.”

He told the couple: “I hope it was worth it.”

Shaw cheekily replied: “You don’t know how worth it that was. Happy Valentine’s. Sorry.”

After they were taken to the cells, Judge Byers told their lawyers: “You can tell them, with my felicitations, they can look forward to a consecutive sentence. They plainly have absolutely no respect.”