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A London Zoo worker glassed a female colleague in the face in a love triangle clash over a llama keeper, a court heard today.

Meerkat expert Caroline Westlake, 30, hit Kate Sanders with a wine glass at the staff Christmas party, slicing open the monkey keeper’s face, Westminster magistrates’ court was told.

The pair had been feuding over Adam Davies, who had dated Ms Sanders for five years before breaking up.

Mr Davies and Westlake later began dating and tried to avoid Ms Sanders. But she would send them text messages and pictures whenever they were together, the court heard.

The feud came to a head at the party in the zoo’s Prince Albert Suite on December 8. The court heard Ms Sanders saw the couple and made a disparaging comment about Westlake, triggering a row.

Describing the incident, Westlake said: "When I got to the cloakroom I remember looking up and seeing her standing there."

She added that she felt a bit uncomfortable after hearing the comments earlier in the night, but did not want to leave and give the impression that she was "terrified".

Westlake continued: "She (Ms Sanders) said 'Caroline, I want to apologise for what you heard me saying earlier in the bathrooms', and then I remember saying 'why did you say it? I am trying to be nice, trying to be civil, I don't understand what I have done wrong to you'.

"And then I remember her saying 'you're dating my ex-boyfriend'."

"It got really, really heated and she was saying everyone hates you, everyone says you're mad, no one likes you. She just kept screaming in my face. So then I said 'they say the same about you'.

"She punched me in the side of my face. It kind of knocked me, knocked me back. And then it was like a split second struggle and I was standing apart from her and I remember seeing her face was cut, and I remember thinking 'how has this happened?'," she added.

Prosecutor Richard Doolan said: “This ended with the defendant hitting the victim in the side of the face — when she hit the victim she had a wine glass in her hand.”

Westlake, of Salisbury Road, Banstead, denies one count of assault by beating. The trial continues.