A WOMAN who was doused in petrol and set on fire by her abusive boyfriend was attacked again - this time by a female former friend, a court was told.

She was dragged to the ground and kicked and punched by Kathleen Salkeld in two separate assaults in Clifton, York - and when her mother intervened to help her, she too was thrown to the ground by Salkeld.

Salkeld, 23, of Mowden Terrace, Darlington, was being hunted by police yesterday after failing to turn up for her trial at York Crown Court and being tried in her absence.

The Honorary Recorder of York, Judge Paul Batty QC, who jailed her for three years after a jury found her guilty of three assaults - two causing actual bodily harm - issued a warrant for her arrest.

He said: “She is 23 years of age and has resisted engaging with the justice system and is effectively on the run.

“There is repeated violence done to a vulnerable victim and done while in the victim’s own home.”

The court heard that the victim was brain damaged from the earlier attack by her boyfriend in Darlington, in which he locked her in a burning room. She jumped out of a window to save her life but then fractured her skull.

Her mother said she had had to undergo two operations on her brain.

Martin Robertshaw, prosecuting, said the victim had been friends with Salkeld and they had lived together in the Darlington area in the past, but she had moved to York.

He said Salkeld got in touch and asked if she could come and stay in her flat. An argument broke out and Salkeld grabbed her hair, pulled her to the floor and kicked and punched her body and face. She suffered bruising and swelling and went to A & E to be checked out.

Her mother said she came to her flat and found her daughter covered in blood and with matted hair and a black eye. “It was just dreadful,” she said.

Later the same day, Salkeld returned, shouting and swearing and asking for her belongings to be returned, and she again punched and kicked the woman.

The mother said she was thrown to the ground, suffering a sprain to her wrist.

The victim said in an interview with police that Salkeld had turned into a “raging bull” and had been shouting: “Give me my baby back.”

The court was told that Salkeld had recently miscarried a baby and stored the foetus in a freezer at the Clifton property.

Salkeld claimed when interviewed by police that she was attacked by the woman and had acted in self defence.

A North Yorkshire Police spokesman said yesterday: “Salkeld has links with York and County Durham and we’d urge anyone who thinks they may have seen her to get in touch with North Yorkshire Police on 101 and select option 1 so they can share this information with us.

“If the sighting is immediate, we’d ask people to report it by calling 999.”

*A 40-year-old man was jailed for 15 years and nine months at Teesside Crown Court in January 2015 after admitting causing grievous bodily harm with intent to the woman and arson with intent to endanger life.