SAMANTHA Austin, who scarred a man's neck when she 'glassed' him in the street in Coleford, has been told by a judge that she will not be jailed for the offence.

The 19-year-old, of Victoria Road, Coleford, was to have stood jury trial at Gloucester Crown Court on Monday on a charge of wounding Philip Baker with intent to cause him grievous bodily harm on February 26 last year.

She also denied an alternative less serious charge of unlawful wounding.

After negotiations between prosecution and defence her solicitor Stephen Davies asked the judge, Recorder Peter Towler, to give a 'Goodyear Indication' of what sentence she would receive if she admitted the less serious charge.

Recorder Towler said: "It is something of an unusual case and there is quite a bit of mitigation.

"Bearing in mind all those matters, it seems to me that if she were to plead guilty I would not have to send her immediately to prison."

After hearing the judge's indication, Austin pleaded guilty to unlawfully wounding Mr Baker. She submitted a written basis of plea setting out her version of what happened.

Prosecutor David Maunder said that he would not be proceeding with the more serious allegation of wounding with intent and she was formally cleared of it.

Recorder Towler ordered a 'fast track' pre-sentence report on Austin from the probation service and said he would hear the full case and sentence her on Friday afternoon.