Woman repeatedly punched by rival in Yorkshire Morrisons supermarket attack after long-running neighbour dispute

Sophie Yorke, 43, lunged at the victim as they both shopped in Morrisons, punching her several times before security staff were able to separate them.

Leeds Crown Court heard Yorke had bought a home from the victim in 2017.

The victim then moved into an adjacent property.

A dispute between the two festered and resulted in Yorke being convicted of battery and harassment of the woman in 2019.

Yorke received a community order and a 12-month restraining order for that offence.

But in a chance meeting, the pair came face-to-face in Morrisons, in Knottingley, on the morning of August 8 last year.

Joseph Bell, prosecuting, said Yorke began shouting at the woman and suggesting she had reported Yorke's son to the police, which she denied.

The victim tried to defend herself by pulling Yorke's hair and shouting for someone to call the police.

When they were finally pulled apart, Yorke shouted: "You've had it coming. Three years I've had this."

The victim suffered swelling and bruising to her face.

Yorke refused to comment during a police interview..

Yorke, of Vale Terrace, Knottingley, pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

The court was told that she has three previous convictions, including the battery charge from 2019.

Miss Heggie said Yorke maintains she only punched the woman three times.

The barrister added: "She does not seek to say these were in reasonable self defence.

"She accepts she should not have acted in the way she did and accepts the injuries caused are awful.

"There is clear ongoing difficulties since the purchase of the property.

"It is clear there needs to be time and space between these two parties."

Yorke was given a four-month jail sentence, suspended it for 18 months.

Judge Rodney Jameson QC said: "You are not a person who lives an unlawful life in general terms, you have just had a major falling out with this lady."