A WOMAN whose pub glassing attack left her victim scarred for life deserved her five-year sentence, Appeal Court judges ruled today.

Joanne Sarah Dempster slashed Laura Mitchell's face with a broken bottle, leaving her so badly disfigured that she believes she got banned from a nightclub because she is seen as "a troublemaker", Judge Peter Beaumont told the court in London.

He added that the 18-year- old victim also believes the cuts to her wrists - received when she put her hands up to defend herself - make people think she has attempted suicide.

The judge, who was sitting with Mr Justice McCombe, said the four-inch cut to Miss Mitchell's cheek and nasal area was so deep that she said she could put her own tongue in the wound from inside her mouth.

As well as the physical and mental scars of her ordeal, the attack - in The Spring Meadow pub, Droitwich, in January last year - left Miss Mitchell with muscle problems in her face, said Judge Beaumont.

And he added that the "devastating effects of the attack" would be with Laura Mitchell long after Dempster is released.

Dempster, 25, of Lansdown Rise, Worcester, pleaded guilty at the city's crown court to wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm and was sentenced on January 24.

Judge Beaumont said the attack happened after the birthday celebrations of Dempster's sister turned nasty and a fight involving 20 people broke out.

During it, Dempster grabbed Miss Mitchell's hair and told her "you're going to die," the judge added.

After the fight, Miss Mitchell went back inside and telephoned for a taxi, but was attacked by Dempster, brandishing the broken bottle, as she stepped outside the pub.

The face wound needed 50 stitches and, as well as the wrist wounds, Miss Mitchell also received a one centimetre cut to her shoulder, Judge Beaumont continued.

After her arrest, Dempster initially claimed Miss Mitchell had attacked her and that she accidentally wounded her victim with the bottle, which she had been carrying beforehand.

But the judge said reports on Dempster showed she had a drink problem, becoming aggressive if she had too much.

The crown court had said she had endured a childhood "nobody would wish on anybody".

But, dismissing the appeal, Judge Beaumont said Dempster, who has a previous conviction for disorderly behaviour, had carried out a pre-meditated attack on Miss Mitchell, with devastating consequences.