Street violence flared in front of young children and left two men with serious wounds.

Lyndsey Wallace, a 36-year-old mother, began trouble on the evening of July 25 last year. She smashed a bottle against a car in Workington, belonging to a friend of Nicky Musgrave, her ex-partner.

When Mr Musgrave emerged, he was punched several times by Wallace, who then picked up a small hatchet and struck “down on him” with it, Carlisle Crown Court heard.

Wallace was “cajoled and egged on” by heavily pregnant pal Haley Bower, 31. Bower’s partner, 28-year-old Daniel Jones, was then seen “engaging in violence with Mr Musgrave”. Both Jones and Mr Musgrave suffered serious upper body wounds caused by the hatchet.

But Judge Nicholas Barker heard of a “confusing but violent scene” which made it hard to establish exactly what happened.

An apologetic Wallace, of Hillcrest, Northside, admitted unlawfully wounding Mr Musgrave and affray. A 16-month prison sentence was suspended for two years. She must complete 200 hours’ unpaid work and an eight-week night-time curfew. Bower and Jones, of a separate Hillcrest address, admitted a public order charge, and were each given an eight-week curfew.

“There were many people present. There were young children present,” Judge Barker told the trio. “It is, by any standards, an incident of significant public disorder and all three of you were involved in it.”