A 28-YEAR-OLD woman who stamped on a man’s head after he had been knocked to the ground by another man has been jailed.

Tasmin Riley, of Beech Street, Accrington, was handed the sentence by Judge Beverley Lunt at Burnley Crown Court having admitted to assaulting David Howard causing him actual bodily harm.

Riley, who already had three convictions for assault, had admitted the charge at a previous hearing in Blackburn Magistrates Court.

On that occasion, Blackburn magistrates were shown CCTV footage of the unprovoked incident which showed Riley repeatedly striking the man as he lay on the floor.At one stage she walked away but then returned and kicked him again.

And she told police she had put in the third stamp on the victim’s head because she thought the one before had missed.

She had been committed to Burnley Crown Court to be sentenced after District Judge Merrion Leqis-Jones said his powers of punishment were insufficient.

District Judge Lewis-Jones said: “This was an attack on a defenceless man who was already on the ground.

“Quite frankly it was an appalling incident.

“This man had gone out for a drink with his brothers and ended up being kicked and stamped on repeatedly.

“You stamped on him three times and then came back and kicked him.

“What makes it worse you are no stranger to violence.

“Your personal problems do not excuse the way you launched yourself at this man.

“ You were quite merciless in the way you treated him.”

Catherine Allan, prosecuting at the Magistrates Court, said Mr Howard was walking out of a bar when someone kidney punched him. “He was pushed to the floor where he was punched and kicked by a male, who has not been identified, and the defendant. He says everything went blank," she said.

Peter King, defending, said the male who had initially attacked Mr Howard was not known to the defendant, he had not been identified and brought to book.

“When she was shown the CCTV she immediately expressed remorse for the way she had behaved,” said Mr King. Since this incident she was been working with drug and alcohol agencies and has made considerable strides in her life.”

Riley was also ordered to pay a victim surcharge.