A YOUNG woman who was accused of intending to cause serious harm when she stabbed a disabled man in Park North will not now have to stand trial.

Jade Nicholson always admitted she had plunged the knife into Peter Gallagher during the incident in March last year.

But the slight 20-year-old had pleaded not guilty to the more serious charge of unlawful wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

Last summer she stood trial on the allegation at Swindon Crown Court and the jury was unable to reach a verdict.

The case was brought back for a retrial but before a second panel could be sworn in prosecutors said they would drop the charge.

Charles Gabb, for the Crown, said: "I have taken further instructions from those instructing me and also heard the observations from my learned friend that the defendant has not come to the attention of the police in the intervening period.

"There is, in the circumstances, no need for a retrial. The aggrieved has been spoken to. I hope he understood. He is not in the best of health."

Nicholson, formerly of Liden, admitted unlawful wounding when she appeared before the courts last year.

She admitted assaulting 46-year-old Peter Gallagher in Dulverton Avenue on Friday, March 11, 2016.

Judge Tim Mousley QC adjourned the case to a date to be fixed so the probation service could compile a pre-sentence report and released her on bail.

And he warned her: "You must prepare yourself for all outcomes and that includes a possible custodial sentence."

Mr Gallagher, of Kemerton Walk, Park South, suffered a fractured skull when a neighbour smashed a piece of wood over his head following a disagreement in 2015.

He had been goading the family of his attacker, shouting 'paedo' at their house as the man's dad was on trial for child sex offences which led to a 17 year jail term.

Police called to the scene described Mr Gallagher's head as being 'sliced open' and when he got to hospital he was found to have a seven to ten inch cut.

He had fractures to his skull, both eye sockets and left cheekbone and was taken to a neurology department in Oxford as medics feared a brain injury.

Mr Gallagher also suffers dystonia, which causes muscle spasms and fits, and also had post traumatic stress disorder following another assault in 1994. As a result of that attack both conditions worsened.

Mr Gallagher, who also has a history of crime, was also stabbed in 2006 by another man after falling out with fellow 'park bench alcoholics'.