A FEUD between two girls at a hostel led to a double assault. At Swindon Magistrates' Court a 17-year-old girl was given a two-year supervision having been charged with two instances of assault.

She was also disqualified from driving for 12 months for careless driving.

The defendant, who cannot be named for legal reasons, admitted all the charges.

The court heard that the girl believed that the victim of the assaults had engineered her eviction from the Swindon hostel where they both lived.

Richard Thomas, prosecuting, said the first assault took place in the Wyvern Theatre car park on December 29 last year.

He said: "She took hold of her hair and struck her head against a post, and then kicked her."

He said the second attack took place on New Year's Eve in Eastcott Hill.

He said: "She took hold of her and struck her head against a wall.

"She held her throat so that she was struggling to breathe, and then smacked her head against the kerb."

The court also heard that on April 2 this year, although she only has a provisional driving licence, she drove unaccompanied along the M4.

Her mobile phone rang on the passenger seat and, while answering it, she lost control of the vehicle and went into a field.

The car then rolled over several times and had to be written off.

Andrew Hobson, defending, told the court the girl had driven off in anger after an argument with her boyfriend and had ended up in hospital as a result of the crash.

Simon Wolfensohn, the chairman of the bench, told the girl: "These were very serious offences.

"You were driving on a motorway at speed while not insured.

"The consequences could have been very serious.

"To mark the seriousness of the assaults the supervision order will be for two years."

David Andrew