A VIOLENT teenage mum must give birth to her second child behind bars after a judge said it was best for her, the baby and society.

Troubled Natalie Harvey, who is 31 weeks pregnant, had been desperate to have the child out of prison.

But a court heard she had a chaotic lifestyle and had not been attending all her ante-natal appointments or co-operating with social services.

Judge Simon Newell said Harvey needed stability and custody would provide the best chance of the infant being born healthy and give her an opportunity to bond with it.

Harvey, placed in care at three-years-old and who became a mother at the age of 16, appeared for sentence at Burnley Crown Court.

Last August, the defendant, said to have behaved ‘like a caged animal’ in the past, had exploded with rage and kicked and thumped a woman in a ‘shocking’ unprovoked attack in a busy McDonalds restaurant.

The sentencing hearing was told that since the case was adjourned for psychological reports at the end of April, Harvey had dumped her partner Wayne Kinvig, a serial conman who was the father of her unborn child, after alleging domestic violence and moved in with a new boyfriend.

Harvey, who has more than 20 offences on her record, had also been approached by Heat magazine for her side of the story, after her case made the news.

Her barrister Timothy Brennand told the court: "It may be its a reflection of the Kardashian culture that we perhaps live in that a sad story of a girl from Burnley should make its way to the national press as it did."

The defendant, who had recently been living in Preston where she went to start a new life with Kinvig, was jailed for 12 months.

The court had earlier been told how Harvey had grabbed Ann-Marie Gornall, pulled her to the floor and kicked her repeatedly in the afternoon incident at the Burnley restaurant.

She had told the woman, who had previously been the victim of violence at the defendant's hands: "You're going to get stabbed up... Why have you got me done? You are going to get me sent down for this."

Harvey was given a supervision order by magistrates for the earlier battery offence and resisting a police officer.

It was imposed four days after she was given an interim anti-social order which banned her from a large part of Burnley town centre after a catalogue of abuse against shoppers and workers.

Mr Brennand, defending, described Harvey as a ‘very difficult and very troubled young lady’ and a ‘simple individual’.

He said: "She should by rights go to prison. This was an unpleasant and rather sustained verbal and physical attack on the complainant."

But, he added giving birth in custody might have a profound effect on her psychologically.

The barrister said the medical report's conclusion was that Harvey was suffering from a major depressive disorder and had been for many years.

She had lost both her parents - her father was ‘brutally murdered’ - and had no grandparents or siblings.

Mr Brennand continued: "All she's got are the people that she can pass off as friends and no structured support whatsoever."

The barrister said: "She is terrified that, having split from the child's father, that it's inevitably going to be that the child will be taken from her at birth.”

Sentencing, Judge Newell told Harvey: "You have an awfully sad life and background behind you."

The judge said it was deeply troubling to see what had happened to her and her family in recent years and it may explain why somebody of just 19 had committed 21 offences, a lot of them for violence and it may explain her random, haphazard and chaotic life, not just in the past, but even more recently.

Judge Newell said: "What's vitally important, it seems to me, in the next two or three months, in your interests, in your child's interests, but more particularly in society's interests, is that there is some stability, some proper medical help and some assistance."

"Prison provides punishment and it provides a deterrent and these are the main reasons people go to prison.

“But, prison also has benefits. It can work towards rehabilitation, it can work towards improving somebody's health and it can work towards stabilisation and it seems to me in these circumstances, despite your best endeavours, that stabilisation, at least for a short period of time, ought to be put in place."