Teen admits attacking woman with bleach

London: A mother was doused in bleach by a teenager for asking him to keep the noise down in a cinema.

Annette Warden, 46, screamed in agony as the bleach ran down her face and into her eyes, a court heard yesterday.

The 16-year-old attacked as she, her husband John and two young sons ate a meal shortly after the film. She leapt out of her chair and in tears fled to the toilet to splash water over her burning face.

Warden was taken to hospital where she had injections to freeze her eyes and saline solution poured into them.

She needed further treatment at a specialist eye clinic after the attack and was lucky to escape permanent skin or eye injuries, the jury heard.

Her ordeal began minutes into a screening of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince at the Vue cinema in Leeds on July 26.

A group of youths on the same row were talking, playing with their mobiles and making a noise with their sweet wrappers. Warden politely asked the teenager and his four friends to be quiet but they ignored her.

At the end of the film, Warden complained to staff about the gang's behaviour before leaving with her family to go for a meal at the nearby Frankie & Benny's restaurant.

Leeds Crown Court heard that as the family walked to the restaurant, a silver hatchback drove past and the defendant, who cannot be named for legal reasons, leaned out and called Warden a "****ing slag".

But her attacker was still desperate for revenge, said Tim Capstick, prosecuting, and ordered his friends to stop off at a Shell garage where he bought a 750 millilitre bottle of Domestos bleach. The friends tried to dissuade him from confronting Warden, but drove him back to the scene, the court heard.

The teenager has admitted assault, but denies trying to cause Warden grievous bodily harm with intent.

The trial continues.