THREE teenage girls have appeared in court and admitted their part in a brutal attack on a schoolmate which was later posted on Facebook.

But one of the girls was ordered out of the court after she started giggling part way through the proceedings.

She later came back into court and apologised to the magistrates.

The defendants, one aged 16 and two aged 14, who cannot be named for legal reasons, all pleaded guilty at Blackburn magistrates, to assaulting the other girl, also aged 16.

The 16-year-old girl was remanded on bail so she can be sentenced at a later date. The 14-year-olds were both made subject to a referral order for nine months and ordered to pay £100 compensation to their victim and £100 costs.

David Hartley, prosecuting, said the aggrieved and a 13-year-old friend were leaving school at about 2.30pm when they came into contact with the three defendants. There was an altercation before they all caught the bus into town.

“It seems the defendants were intent on a confrontation,” said Mr Hartley. “They tried to persuade the girl to go down a back alley or under a bridge but she refused, fearing they were going to attack her.”

The attack eventually happened outside the Jubilee public house.

One of the 14-year-olds grabbed the victim by the hair and kneed her in the face. She dragged her down and repeatedly punched and kicked her.

During the attack the 16-year-old girl was heard to say: “Do it again, do it again.”

“The other girl was laughing and screaming and shouting that she had it on video,” said Mr Hartley. “The victim was later informed the video had been posted on Facebook and she was extremely embarrassed and upset by that.”

The victim suffered swelling and bruising and went to hospital to be checked out.

The girl who filmed the incident said she knew what was going to happen because it had been planned on the bus. She said her friend who physically attacked the other girl said she was going to ‘bang her’.

“This was clearly pre-planned and not just something that happened on the spur of the moment,” said Mr Hartley.

Gareth Price, defending the girl who carried out the attack, said she had no idea it was being filmed.

“The first she knew of that was when she logged on to her own Facebook,” said Mr Price.

Damian Pickup, defending the filmmaker, said while his client was not involved in the violence what she did was just as bad.

“She says she is sorry and didn’t mean to make the other girl look a fool,” said Mr Pickup.

“It is up to her to take the help offered by the Youth Offending Team and move on from this unpleasant incident.”