Alison Baker was ecstatic to avoid a prison sentence after waiting three years to find out (Picture: MyLondon/BPM Media)
A nightmare neighbour who left a woman covered in blood after attacking her while she took the bins out lit a cigarette and screamed ‘freedom’ after being spared jail.
Alison Baker, 52, hurled a set of keys at Mary Mulhall before punching her in the face so hard she fell backwards and split her head open on a wall.
The unprovoked attack outside their block of flats in Dagenham, east London, on February 24, 2021, was caught on CCTV from one of the communal lifts.
Baker initially tried to claim she was the real victim having been assaulted first, but eventually pleaded guilty when confronted with the footage.
It showed her shouting at Ms Mulhall as she carried her rubbish from the lift.
Snaresbrook Crown Court heard the victim pleaded ‘Get away from me’ before Baker threw the keys and thumped her.
She was still bleeding by the time the police arrived, the court was told.
Baker eventually admitted assault (Picture: MyLondon/BPM Media)
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Baker has seven previous convictions, including one for an assault in 2020 for which she was serving a 12-month community order at the time.
Rather than send her to prison for the ‘rather unpleasant’ attack, Judge Sarah-Jane Griffiths imposed another community order, largely down to her having stayed out of trouble in the years since.
The new order is for 18 months and includes a 30-day rehabilitation activity requirement, a 12-week curfew running between 9pm and 6am, and an order to pay £95 compensation to the victim.
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Alison Baker, 52, left her neighbour bloodied after attacking her as she took the bins out.