A CALLOUS nurse continued dancing after hurling a glass into the face a man enjoying a Boxing Day night out.

Bolton Crown Court heard how victim Brian Lowe suffered a cut chin, bruising and chipped teeth in the attack at Yates' bar on Bradshawgate.

But 25-year-old Claire Singleton was spared jail after Recorder Ahmed Nadim read numerous testimonials from her colleagues and relatives.

Karen Brooks, prosecuting, told the court how Mr Lowe and his wife Joanne had spent the evening watching boxing matches at the Excellency Centre in Bolton and at 10pm they moved on to Yates'.

Shortly afterwards he spotted Singleton, whom he had known in the past through friend, and they exchanged greetings.

But as he was leaving he felt someone collide with him in the busy bar and realised he had been pushed by Singleton.

"What are you not acknowledging me for?" she demanded, before stepping back and punching him on the cheek.

Miss Brooks said Mr Lowe's wife pushed her away but then Singleton, who had been drinking heavily, threw a glass which shattered in his face.

"She then walked away to the dance floor and continued dancing," said Miss Brooks.

Mr Lowe needed four stitches to a cut in his chin and has had to spend £1,239 on dental repairs.

Singleton, of Harper Green Road, Farnworth, pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm.

The court heard that on the night of the attack she had drunk five double vodkas and can remember very little about the evening.

Rosalind Emsley-Smith, defending, said the assault came at the end of a particularly bad week at work for Singleton, who is a nurse in the heart care unit at Salford Royal Hospital.

Three of her patients had died, including one she was particularly distressed about as they passed away whilst she was on a break.

"She had an extraordinarily difficult week and reacted to that badly," said Miss Emsley-Smith.

She added that the nurse drank more than usual on Boxing Day and, since her arrest, Singleton, who has no previous convictions, has sought counselling.

"This court can be satisfied that there will be no repeat of such criminality," said Miss Emsley-Smith, who stressed that her hospital colleagues have described her as an "exemplary" nurse.

Sentencing Singleton to 12 months in prison, suspended for two years, Recorder Nadim told her: "The kind of behaviour you engaged in can properly be described as loutish.

"It is all the more worrying that someone of your background and character should engage in such behaviour."

He added that she had been "callous" in continuing to dance after wounding Mr Lowe.

Recorder Nadim was told that Singleton will now face a disciplinary hearing conducted by the Nursing and Midwifery Council after which she could be be banned from nursing.

"You have compromised, by your actions, all that you have worked for," Recorder Nadim told her as she sobbed in the dock.

"You have let yourself down, you have let you family down, you have let your community down."

Peter Murphy, deputy director of nursing at Salford Royal, said: “We take matters such as this seriously and we will now consider the outcome of the case and decide what appropriate action to take.”

In addition to the suspended sentence, Singleton was ordered to pay her victim £3,000 compensation and £500 towards prosecution costs.