A LESBIAN pub landlady has been jailed for three years and nine months for a savage attack which left a customer's life hanging in the balance.

Michelle "Shelley" Lord's victim, builder Eddie Denton, suffered a suspected fractured skull and other injuries after he was beaten up in the Plane Tree Hotel, Westgate, Burnley, in January.

She believed the ex-convict had raided her farmhouse home, Burnley Crown Court heard.

Lord, of Higher Gibfield Farm, Manchester Road, Burnley, had earlier been convicted by a jury of wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm after a six-day trial. She had denied the charge. Her partner Helen Dodgeon, 29, was cleared of any involvement in the attack.

The court was told paramedics feared for Mr Denton's life when they arrived at the pub in the early hours.

He was transferred to Blackburn Royal Infirmary from Burnley General Hospital because his injuries were so serious.

The court heard how Lord was not the only person involved in the assault, as a footprint which was not hers was found on Mr Denton's head.

But the victim still felt affection for her, despite what had happened, the court was told.

Lord, 38, fought back tears in the dock and turned her back on Judge Raymond Bennett as he passed sentence.

The judge said it was sad to see her in court and people would not expect a woman like her to have been convicted of such an attack. He added: "You may well have been wrong about Mr Denton. That's the danger of taking the law into your own hands."

Arthur Stuttard, prosecuting, said Mr Denton had been walking past the pub in the early hours when he was summoned over by Lord, who said she wanted to talk to him.

Lord then attacked him with a baseball bat, hitting him about the head and face four or five times.

Mr Denton was dragged into the men's toilets and Lord called for a hammer to smash his fingers before being talked out of it by Dodgeon.

Mr Denton was in hospital for about a week and while he was being treated he received a bouquet of flowers from the defendant with the word "Sorry" on a card.

The court was told Lord had a spent conviction for assault 19 years ago and had previously been sent to prison for drink driving.

Tim Brennand, defending, said Lord maintained her innocence but accepted and was reconciled with the jury's verdict. He said Lord had reported the burglary at her home to police and the only reason she found herself in the dock was because no statement was taken from her and nothing at all was done about it.

He said it was highly regrettable that people were not arrested and interviewed and the defendant ended up in court because of the "malaise" of the police.

Mr Brennand said Lord had now transferred her business because of the prospect of a long prison sentence but she had been very much at the heart of it. He said Lord was a "personality." She and her partner, who were in a same sex relationship, had been upset by the "lurid and sensational" publicity surrounding the case. He said she was overdrawn to the tune of about £6,000 at the bank and may well now lose her home.