A TEENAGE mother has been locked up for 10 years after she admitted deliberately setting fire to a younger love rival in front of her six-month-old baby son.
Georgina Clarke-Webber was with her baby in a buggy when she attacked the 15-year-old girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, at the junction of Middle Park Avenue and Churchbury Road in Eltham, on June 15.
The 19-year-old, of Churchbury Road, Eltham, punched and kicked her to the ground then squirted white spirit from a bottle over the girl's head and body and lit it, causing flames to leap from the screaming girl's hair and clothes.
It emerged Clarke-Webber was jealous of the girl after she discovered she had kissed her boyfriend and wanted to punish her.
The teenager had received threatening text messages from the older girl before the attack.
Nearby resident Jamie Kelsey rushed out of his home to put out the fire using wet towels before she was flown to a specialist burns unit at Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford, Essex.
Prosecutor Robin Barclay said it was believed Clarke-Webber used a cigarette lighter and a cigarette with her DNA on it was found at the scene.
He said the victim had extensive burns to one whole side of her face, to her left arm and both of her shoulders.
Woolwich Crown Court heard how during the attack she stood up and staggered around, and a large blister formed on the side of her face before popping.
When police and paramedics arrived she was in a coma, but when she came round later in hospital she was so traumatised she thought she was still on fire.
Clarke-Webber sobbed in the dock as she was sentenced at the court, today (October 14).
She pleaded guilty at a previous court hearing to causing GBH with intent.
Sentencing her, Judge Charles Myers said: "Anyone who heard of what you did on that day has to be completely horrified. I am satisfied that you planned this quite disgraceful attack.
"You filled a drinks bottle with white spirit and set her alight with a lighter. You clearly wanted to disfigure your victim because of jealousy over a boyfriend.
"She will bear the physical and mental scars of what you did for the rest of her life. One can only hope that she will come to live with what you did to her.
"The public are rightly outraged when they hear of your actions. Serious crimes come with serious consequences."
As he passed sentence Clarke-Webber cried out so loudly the proceedings in a neighbouring court room had to be stopped for a short time.
After the case the victim's mother said: "Justice has been done. She deserves to be sent to jail for the evil crime she committed on my daughter.
"She will never get over what has happened to her."
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