A DRUNKEN teenager who slashed a student's face with a piece of glass came within an inch of possibly killing her, a court was told.

Jordan Hadjett, 19, left his 17-year-old victim bleeding heavily and with a deep gash needing 12 stitches, after attacking her with the neck of a broken bottle.

The pair had had an early hours confrontation in the street, after the defendant had been thrown out of a house where she was babysitting.

Hadjett had inflicted a cut running from around the jawbone, extending to the cheek and under the chin. He just missed the girl's neck and the wound could potentially have been fatal had it been an inch lower, Burnley Crown Court heard.

The hearing was told the victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had been left scarred for life and her confidence had been shattered, but she felt lucky to be alive.

Jobless Hadjett, who has never been in trouble before, was sent to a Young Offenders' Institution for 12 months. The defendant, of Chapel Street, Oswaldtwistle, had earlier admitted wounding.

David Macro, prosecuting, said last April 20, the victim was babysitting in the Accrington area and invited some other girls. Four young men also arrived at the address, one of them the defendant.

The 17-year-old and her friends had been drinking, as had the ‘lads’ and Hadjett was clearly drunk.

Mr Macro said: "It was a recipe for trouble and it soon arrived."

A row erupted and Hadjett was told to leave. The defendant was taken to the front door, but resisted and pulled the door of its hinges. The group managed to get him outside and his friends tried to calm him down.

Mr Macro said the victim was angry, upset and crying and went outside with a bottle of Lambrini. She would say she dropped it. A witness described her as smashing it by hitting it on the kerb.

The victim kept hold of the neck of the bottle. She approached the defendant, who grabbed her and pushed her to the ground three times.

The victim suffered a five centimetre, deep laceration to her lower cheek. A neighbour went to her aid and helped stem the flow of blood.

Defending, Martin Hackett said :" It was a bad offence. It was wholly out of character for this young man."

Recorder Smith said: "A number of centimetres lower down and that wound could have been a fatal wound. You are very fortunate that it was not and so, particularly, is she."