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A teenager was brutally beaten in a 'happy slap' attack.

Simone McDermott, 19, lured her ex Aimee Purdey to her apartment in the early hours, claiming to need a shoulder to cry on.

When the victim arrived McDermott's friends Melissa Marriott, Siobhan Wait and Victoria Houghton charged towards her, throwing punches and kicks as the girl curled up into a ball on the floor.

Miss Purdey can be seen pleading “let me go, please let me go" in a video one of the offenders took of the attack.

In the two minute clip one of the attackers can be heard shouting: ''Give her here - I’ll have a go'' as another threatens ''I'm gonna break your face.''

(Image: Aimee Purdey)

Miss Purdey was left with multiple bruises on her head and body and underwent a CT scan in hospital after doctors found a footprint on her forehead.

One of her finger nails was so badly damaged in the assault it fell off her finger.

McDermott, from Crumpsall, Manchester, later claimed she carried out the attack to get her ex-lover's mobile phone which she believed contained an intimate photo of her.

But in a statement Miss Purdey, 19, said: ''I thought they wanted to kill me. I could have died.

"I had a lot of pain with my injuries and I was unable to leave my room for two to three weeks - when I did go out I had to have someone with me.

''I’ve started getting shopping delivered to my house and I feel unsure going to the shops as I might bump into Simone McDermott and her friends.

"I didn’t think they were sorry for what they did."

(Image: Aimee Purdey)

The bartender said the assault left her feeling paranoid and lacking in trust when it came to relationships.

''The feeling of being attacked by someone I cared about and who I thought cared about me had left me feeling really betrayed," she continued.

"I was so distressed I couldn’t sleep. I am frustrated to be made to feel a victim by this girl. I don’t want to feel weak and have these feeling hanging over me.

''This has affected everything in life and I think about the assault every single day. It’s the first thing I think about when I wake up and when I go to sleep. I have dreams about being attacked and having things stolen from me.''

At Manchester Crown Court the shocking video was played to a judge as McDermott and her friends Marriott, of Blackley, Wait, also of Blackley, and Houghton, of Wythenshawe, admitted assault with intent to rob.

(Image: Cavendish Press (Manchester) Ltd)

The women, all aged 19, are due to be sentenced later.

The court heard how McDermott had been in a relationship with Miss Purdey but began an affair with college student Marriott while the victim was on holiday in Spain.

On January 3, last year, McDermott contacted Miss Purdey to claim she had split up with Marriott, asking her to come over to her flat as she had been ''crying most of the night on her own.''

Wary that she was being set up, the victim questioned McDermott's intentions before heading over to the woman's dorm after she said she missed her.

When she got into the communal hallway and had closed the door Miss Purdey heard laughter coming from upstairs before seeing three women running towards her.

(Image: Cavendish Press (Manchester) Ltd)

Miss Katherine Pierpoint, prosecuting, described the scene as McDermott blocked the door before the women set upon their target.

''In the video she was was lying in the floor, her knees curled up to her chest and her hands are over her face," the lawyer said.

"The main aggressor was Marriott who was seen to kick the complainant in the back of the head with full force - although McDermott was equally as violent."

While Wait kicked her legs Houghton filmed the incident.

(Image: Cavendish Press (Manchester) Ltd)

All four can be heard laughing during the attack.

When Marriott pulls Miss Purdey's head back and punches her in the face she cries "please let me go".

At the end of the beating Miss Purdey is thrown out of the front door.

She hid down a side street and called the police who found her in an extremely distressed state.

The girls were arrested an hour later by officers who quickly discovered the footage on Houghton's phone.

(Image: Cavendish Press (Manchester) Ltd)

They also recovered text messages sent by Marriott to McDermott threatening Miss Purdey saying: “I’ll smash her head in, throw her down, I’ll stab her. Never hated anyone so much”.

At first McDermott claimed Miss Purdey had attacked her and her friends had intervened, but she later admitted the assault.

In mitigation her defence lawyer Miss Erimnaz Mushtaq, said: ''It’s a deeply, deeply nasty incident which makes for difficult viewing. It’s clear this was a deeply unpleasant and sustained incident. But it’s fortuitous Miss Purdy’s injuries were not as serious.

''Miss McDermott’s belief was that Miss Purdey’s mobile phone contained intimate images of Miss McDermott and that’s the reason she wanted the mobile phone. This is not a justification, but it explains why Miss McDermott had lured Miss Purdy to her accommodation.

(Image: Cavendish Press (Manchester) Ltd)

''There was a friendship with each other with some intimacies, but she doesn’t accept the extent of the relationship. She refers to her actions as being 'disgusting'. She is ashamed and deeply remorseful.''

For Houghton, a hospital cleaner, David Taylor said: “Filming this was a crazy thing to do but it's a bizarre world we live in these days where people are not able to exist without their mobile phone or social media.

''She was stupidly dragged into this by what was thought to be an inappropriate photo on the complainant's phone. People do just film unpleasant and violent behaviour but there was no posting of this incident.

''She tells me she shouted to the others to stop the attack when it got completely out of hand. She is totally ashamed and disgusted with herself.''