A ROWDY drunkard who has made the lives of her neighbours a misery is back behind bars for the third time in weeks.

Maralynne Birchenough, 52, believed to be the oldest woman in the county to have been made subject of an Anti Social Behaviour Order, was jailed for three months after flouting it a fifth time.

Birchenough is not allowed to be drunk in the open air - but was arrested by police on Saturday, after causing mayhem in Partridge Hill Street, Padiham, where she lives.

Her solicitor told how she would drink inside - but her husband Victor would then beat her up and throw her out.

Basil Dearing told Burnley magistrates the only answer was for the defendant to leave him but said she was drawn to him.

Birchenough admitted breaching the order.

Sentencing her, the bench said she had failed to comply with the order five times in less than six months and had not responded to previous sentences. Only custody could be justified.

The court was told the probation service had tried everything with Birchenough but she was incapable of complying.

Elizabeth Reed, prosecuting, told the court the Anti-Social Behaviour Order was made on the defendant in March after a long history of drunken behaviour and rowdiness.

The defendant's conduct had caused a great deal of concern to her neighbours.

She was prohibited from being drunk in the open air, or any building the public had access to, and from screaming and shouting.

On Saturday, police were called to her home. She was drunk, had been screaming and was upsetting her neighbours.

Mrs Reed said Birchenough, who had a severe drink problem, had been jailed twice before, for 14 days and 28 days, for breaching the order and the sentences had been increasing to try and deter her.

The prosecutor went on: "Sad though it may be, the residents of that area have probably had their fill of her and her behaviour."

Basil Dearing, defending, said there was nothing to stop Birchenough being drunk in the confines of her own home and this incident followed a pattern.

The defendant had been with her husband over 30 years, both drank and he would then be violent towards her.

He went on: "They get drunk in the house, he gives her a good hiding, throws her out and she is in the street.

"She is drunk and she is shouting and screaming and she gets locked up."

Mr Dearing said Birchenough had suffered a cut eye, a slash to her leg and what she believed to be broken ribs.

The solicitor suggested another way of dealing with Birchenough would be a curfew order and asked if sending her back to prison was the right way to deal with her.

He added the only solution to the problem was for her not to live at Partridge Hill Street and not have anything to do with her husband.

Mr Dearing went on: "She is drawn to him. It is very very difficult."