A drunk mum who broke her friend’s eye socket in a vicious nightclub attack has been spared jail after her victim told a judge: “I don’t want her to go to prison, she’s pregnant.”

Nadine Telfer, who is due to give birth in two weeks, faced a spell behind bars after dragging Poppy Mae Chandler to the floor by her hair and punching her in the face at Vivid in Herne Bay.

But after her victim asked for leniency, 39-year-old Telfer walked free from court this week – nine years after avoiding jail for another violent assault outside the same nightclub.

CCTV footage played at Canterbury Crown Court on Monday showed how she launched the more recent attack in front of stunned revellers during New Year's Eve celebrations.

Caroline Knight, prosecuting, said: “The complainant was with friends at Vivid nightclub in Herne Bay and, as chance would have it, the defendant was also there.

“Both parties had been drinking during the evening.

“It appears, somewhere out of the blue, Miss Chandler asked if [Telfer] was OK because she had appeared upset.”

On returning to her friends inside the venue, Miss Chandler felt a “sudden pain in the back of her head and was struck in the face” by Telfer, Ms Knight explained.

The court heard door staff immediately ejected the trainee beautician from the high street nightspot and calmed her down.

Later that evening, Telfer, of Market Street in Herne Bay, came to regret her actions and texted Miss Chandler an apology.

But such were her injuries, Miss Chandler was forced to book a medical appointment days later.

“She went to the doctor and discovered the pain was caused by an orbital fracture,” Ms Knight said.

In a victim impact statement taken shortly after the attack, Miss Chandler described repeatedly breaking down in tears at home when seeing a reflection of herself.

Speaking on the swelling and pain she suffered, she added: "I was unable to work and I was scared to go out due to the bruising and how my eye looked.”

Attending court on Monday, Miss Chandler told how a metal plate was inserted into her face to treat the fracture.

But more than two years after the assault in 2023 she is still undergoing surgery to help correct ongoing double vision.

“It has been a long time (since being attacked). It is life-changing, I don’t know if I will ever drive,” she said from the witness box, about seven metres from Telfer in the dock.

“It just hurts because she is my friend.”

Turning to the judge, she pleaded: “Can I just say something? I don’t want her to go to prison, she is pregnant.“

Then facing a visibly upset Telfer, who could be seen leaning slightly forward on her chair, she added: “I don’t ever want you to go to prison”.

When Judge Simon Taylor KC reassured Miss Chandler that Telfer would not be immediately placed behind bars, a sigh of relief could be heard from the public gallery.

Telfer, who has three previous convictions for five offences, was supported by friends and family in court.

Her lawyer, Samuel Glanville, explained she is a mum-of-one and eight-and-a-half-months pregnant, with dependents who would suffer if she was imprisoned.

He added she is receiving Universal Credit but is training to become a beautician and has good prospects for work.

Telfer had denied causing grievous bodily harm – which carries a maximum sentence of five years – but changed her plea on Monday, when her trial had been due to start.

Judge Taylor said she had not intended to cause “really serious harm” during the brief attack and had not been convicted for violence in nine years.

He sentenced Telfer to one year and nine months in prison, but suspended the term for two years, and imposed a three-year restraining order.

He also ordered her to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work, complete 10 rehabilitation activity requirement days and to pay Miss Chandler £2,000 compensation.

“You will bring a new life into the world soon and completing this won’t be easy,” he told her, adding: “It is not meant to be easy”.

It is the second time Telfer has been spared prison for violence in Herne Bay, having walked free from court in 2016 following a group attack that left a young woman unconscious outside the same nightclub.

On that occasion she and two other women had been drinking when they launched the unprovoked assault on student Courtney McCullough, punching and kicking her in what was described as an “ugly melee” by Telfer’s lawyer.

All three women avoided jail after being handed suspended sentences at Margate Magistrates’ Court.