A father who brutally assaulted a teaching assistant in the street and knocked her unconscious after she told off his son in the playground has walked free from court.

Assailant Marius Feneck, 28, waited outside the boy’s primary school for Lesley-Ann Noel to leave after work before following her to her car and launching a vicious revenge attack. She suffered cuts to her head and lips, swelling to her face and a shoulder injury after being found unconscious in the street by a passer-by who raised the alarm.

Feneck’s son had got into a fight at lunchtime and been disciplined by Ms Noel, who was on playground duty at Glenbrook Primary School in Clapham, Inner London crown court heard. Ms Noel, 47, who has been unable to return to work since the assault on October 6, said the emotional trauma had left her too scared even to take her own nine-year-old daughter to school.

She is considering an appeal to the Attorney General for a stronger sentence after Feneck was spared jail despite admitting assault causing actual bodily harm. He was instead given a 12-month sentence suspended for one year.

Ms Noel told the Standard: “I’m very disappointed in the system and I don’t feel justice has been served. What kind of a message does it send to stop others doing this when someone walks free?

“I’m frightened to leave my building. I can’t go back to work and am really struggling to move on. I think about it every day. It has affected me and my daughter. I’ve suffered quite severely from this unprovoked attack and don’t want it to happen to anyone else.

“As a teaching assistant you go to work to help children. You don’t expect to end up in a situation like this and if you do you should get justice. I will consider appealing to the Attorney General.” She has been undergoing therapy to help her deal with the trauma of the attack.

Her brother Roger said she was struggling to cope with what happened and told of his disbelief at the sentence.

He added: “This man is on the street. She is a single mother and this hell has been brought upon her.” The court was told Feneck’s attack was the culmination of a campaign against the school, which had earlier been forced to ban him from its grounds. His partner had gone there at 3.15pm to complain about the way her son had been treated.

At 4.30pm, Ms Noel was walking to her car and saw Feneck cycling towards her — “menacing and after me”. He con- fronted her before knocking her out.

She said: “I don’t know how many times he hit me. I fell unconscious and was found by someone walking past.”

Judge Usha Karu told Friday’s hearing Feneck had “deliberately targeted” his “vulnerable” victim. She said: “This was a serious offence against Ms Noel, who was only doing her public duty as a teacher at the school. You intended to assault her or make life difficult for her in some way and you succeeded.

“She screamed before she went down, saying ‘What are you doing?’ A member of the public saw you cycling away and Ms Noel on the floor bleeding.”

Feneck was also ordered to complete 100 hours’ unpaid work, and given a 30-day rehabilitation order. The judge issued a restraining order banning him from within 50 metres of Glenbrook Primary and from contacting Ms Noel.

Feneck, of Brixton, lived next to a Maoist commune where women were imprisoned for decades in slavery. He once told how a woman kept as a slave by cult leader Aravindan Balakrishnan had written him scented love letters and sent him photographs of herself.

The Department for Education said: “School staff have a right to feel safe while doing their jobs and violence to them, be it from pupils or parents in or out of school, is completely unacceptable. Quite rightly, this case has been dealt with by police and the courts.”

Dave Prentis, general secretary of Unison which represents teaching assistants, said: “The safety of all staff in our schools should be paramount.

“We often hear of attacks on teachers but support staff are also at risk, as this case shows. School safety policies must take account of potential dangers both on and off site.”

The National Union of Teachers’ dep- uty general secretary Kevin Courtney said: “School staff and pupils should feel safe. Inappropriate or violent behaviour should not be tolerated.”

A National Association of Head Teachers’ study found 75 per cent of members had been physically threatened by parents and one in 10 had been assaulted in the five years up to 2014.