Five-foot-two gran, 62, in remission for breast cancer and dressed in her PJs and slippers drunkenly stormed the home of her six-foot-three neighbour, 54, and beat him up after he confronted her son for swearing

A pint-sized grandmother dressed only in her pyjamas and slippers drunkenly stormed the home of her 18 stone, 6ft 3in neighbour and beat him up after he confronted her son for swearing outside his family home.

Five-foot-two inches tall Christine Adams, 62, rained down blows on the head of 54-year old company managing director Russell Coombes in the hallway of his property when fighting broke between him and her son Craig, 42, about the younger man's coarse language.

During the 11pm attack - just eight days before Christmas - primary school cleaner Adams, who was in remission for breast cancer, got into Mr Coombes' face during the scuffle and screamed: 'Oh, there's blood!' only to repeatedly punch him when he responded: 'Yes, it's my blood.'

She also threw punches at Mr Coombes' wife Gaynor as she was dialling 999 and telling Adams to get out of the house. The brawl only came to an end when Adams' sober husband Nigel turned up at the home in his dressing gown to break it up.

Mr Coombes, who runs a publishing company, was left bleeding from an eye injury and was said to be 'very frightened' during the attack. Mrs Coombes, 52, a credit controller claimed Adams was so drunk she could hardly stand.

At Warrington Magistrates' Court in Cheshire, Adams was convicted of common assaulting Mr and Mrs Coombes and was fined £268 and ordered to pay a £907 in costs and victim surcharge.

The incident occurred on December 17 last year after Craig, 42, arrived by taxi at the £300,000 home of his parents in Great Sankey in Warrington to see his mother's pet puppies. Mr Coombes told the hearing: 'We were having dinner, watching TV when heard a car pull up and could hear shouting. I went up and looked out the window on the stairs and it was Mrs Adams' son shouting and swearing.

'I opened the window and I said "Craig , what are you doing?" but he said "Get out here now. I'm going to have you, I'm going to do you".'

Mr Coombes then told the court he was 'not aggressive' when he confronted Craig, who then ran into his mother's house 'giddy - almost like he found it funny', magistrates heard.

Things escalated a couple of hours later when Mr Coombes went to empty his bins to see Craig 'pacing up and down' swearing and saying he was going to 'do me'. 

'He was very close to the front door on our property and he'd obviously had quite a lot to drink,' added Mr Coombes. 'I was angry but quite frightened actually so I told him to 'F*** off.' He then came up to me at and I pushed him back - but our pathway is on a slope and it had been snowing.

'He skidded back and he fell back onto his mum who was at the bottom of the path and they both fell on the floor in the wet slush. She screamed, got up and walked up towards me.

'She was angry and swearing and she punched me in on stomach. Craig was behind her and he moved her to the side and punched me to the side of the head. We tried to shut the front door but he came into the house and at that point I was bleeding quite a lot.

'Craig came at me again but I put him on the floor at the bottom of the stairs and restrained him. I had a knee on his neck and the other knee on his leg directly by our stairs in the hallway. However Mrs Adams was to the right of me, punching me in the head and shouting out 'Oh, there's blood.' I said 'Yes, it's my blood.' She then tried to punch Gaynor as well.'

Mrs Coombes, who heard her husband's yells, described grandmother Adams as 'nasty'. She added: 'Christine was screaming and shouting and calling us a 'b*****d'. She came right up to Russell's face and she punched him in the stomach. My husband was trying to defend himself then Craig punched him in the face.

Mrs Coombes said she ran back into her house to call 999 before returning to her husband's aid and being confronted by a drunken Adams, who started to punch her.   

'She could hardly stand up, she was that drunk,' Mrs Coombes added. 'She kept lunging at me with her fist and trying to punch me in the head.'

Mr Adams arrived and managed to break up the brawl, dragging his son and wife back to their home.  

Police called to the scene said there was blood 'all over' Mr Coombes' face, and he continued to bleed even as the injury was being compressed with a tea towel. The was also 'large amount of blood' at the bottom of the stairs, on a door and the bannister.

Adams and her son were spoken to and officers noted both had slurred speech and were arrested. Mrs Coombes' 999 call was played to the magistrates in which she could be heard screaming at Adams: 'Get out of my house, you f***ing b****, you are f***ing hitting me.'

In her defence Adams said the row broke out when Mr Coombes came out of his house and told Craig to get off his property. She they clashed again when she let her Cavalier King Charles Spaniel out at 10.45pm and added: 'He came out and shouted verbal abuse at me when I was in my pyjamas and slippers.

'I asked "What the hell is going on? What is your problem?" but he said: "Move off my property." He was ranting and raving and tried to push me and I went up in the air like a ragdoll and I fell down on my backside. I screamed and my son then came out to help me up.

'Mr Coombes dragged my son inside and said 'I'm going to keep hold of him until the police come.' He was hurting him and my son was crying in pain. I did not punch Mr Coombes - he is 6ft 3in and 18 stone. I've never punched anyone in my life... Mrs Coombes is just a drama queen.'

The court heard in the run up to the trial Adams had been given a warning for making comments to Mr and Mrs Coombes in breach of bail conditions.

JP Paul Chadwick told Adams: 'We accept the evidence of Mr and Mrs Coombes which was consistent and believable. We reject your evidence which was inconsistent and your recollection of events was not good.'