DRINK-FUELLED violence leaves the John Radcliffe Hospital “like a war zone”, a top judge has said.

Recorder Julian Knowles made the comments after 18-year-old Danielle Hall grabbed her friend by the hair and repeatedly smashed her face on the ground outside a city bar.

Hall attacked friend Ahara Annesley following “an argument over a text message” at Anuba, in Park End Street.

Recorder Knowles said: “Sadly offences of drunken violence are becoming extremely prevalent both in Oxford and across the country... and increasingly the courts are seeing young women come before them.

“The John Radcliffe on a Friday and Saturday night often resembles a war zone with victims of alcohol-fuelled violence being patched up.”

Miss Annesley suffered a broken nose in the incident on November 25.

Hall, a barmaid from Kennedy Close, in Cowley, admitted actual bodily harm on the basis that her friend lunged at her first and she over-reacted.

Roger Coventry, prosecuting, said Hall used took hold of her victim’s hair and repeatedly “banged her head and face” against the ground.

As she was led away by a bouncer, he heard her say on her mobile phone: “I just had a fight with a girl, she deserved it so I thought **** it I’ll smash the **** out of her”.

At the police station Hall “ripped up documents and swore at police officers”, Recorder Knowles noted.

Nick Cotter, defending, said: “She was very drunk and the victim had been a very good friend. It seems this all arises over an argument about a text message.

“It was inexcusable and she accepts she lost her temper. She is genuinely remorseful. She has lost the friendship of this young lady.”

Recorder Knowles said it was a “matter of real regret” that “a very presentable young 18-year-old girl” was in court for such an offence.

He gave her a 12-month community order with 100 hours’ unpaid work and told her to pay £250 compensation. A curfew was deemed unworkable due to Hall’s work shifts, but he added: “I think the bar and club owners of Oxford probably deserve a break from you.”

In 2008, the Oxford Mail reported how drunken yobs clogged up the accident and emergency ward at the John Radcliffe Hospital, in Oxford, and cost £425,000-a-year.

NHS statistics showed 3,628 people were taken to A&E in Oxfordshire with drink related injuries between May 2006 and April 2007. During then, 1,653 people went to hospital with alcohol-related illnesses such as heart disease.