A MOTHER of newborn twins has kept her freedom despite “bottling” another woman in a nightclub.

But Abigail Walker, 21, will have to divide her time between her young children and doing 200 hours of unpaid work for the community as punishment for her violence, which occurred in Club Salvation.

Last November, Walker, of Howard Drive, off Shipton Road, York, faced jail when she pleaded guilty to causing actual bodily harm.

But on hearing that she was due to give birth in a few months’ time, the Recorder of York, Judge Stephen Ashurst, deferred sentence for six months until her twins had been born.

“It would not provide them with the best start in life for them to be born with you in custody,” he told Walker.

On her return to court, he heard that Walker had had health problems after the birth, but she was now fit enough to do unpaid work for the community. As she had been out of trouble with the police and had no previous convictions, he spared her a jail sentence.

But he warned her there had to be “some real punishment”, and gave her a community order with 200 hours’ unpaid work to be completed within 12 months.

He said the probation service would arrange for her to do the work at the weekend, when she was able to get baby-sitting cover.

“What you did was out of character,” he said.

Last November, York Crown Court heard Walker had been in the club with two friends on the evening of June 14 when they got into an argument with another group.

The argument started again later in the evening and after a trip to the toilets, Walker’s friend, Abigail Bell, became involved in a fight with the complainant.

Bashir Ahmed, prosecuting, said Walker had admitted to police she had hit the complainant with a bottle, but it was accepted she had not realised at the time that she had been holding it.

Chloe Fairley, mitigating, said only one blow was struck and Walker only did it because her friend was being assaulted.