A 28-year-old woman claimed she was acting in defence of her daughter when she challenged another woman outside her home.

Michelle Sharp used abusive language and was aggressive towards Michelle Stoddart in Western Road, Skipton, on June 7, magistrates heard on Monday.

The court was told that Mrs Stoddart did not know the other woman, who had been outside her home when she had returned from collecting her children from school.

Sharp had gone up close to Mrs Stoddart and ordered her to apologise for something, the court heard.

Sharp, who had originally denied using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour, but changed her plea ahead of Monday’s trial, had been offered a fixed penalty by a police officer, but had decided not to take it up.

She told the court that she had gone to see Mrs Stoddart because the other woman had been abusive to her daughter after a ball had gone into her garden.

She accepted she should not have said what she had, but denied saying it in front of Mrs Stoddart’s children.

Sharp, of Moorview Way, was fined £55 and ordered to pay costs of £85 and a victims surcharge of £20.