Former friends: Sophie Robinson (right) with Melissa Causer in the latter's bedroom before they went out for the night in Middlesbrough

When Sophie Robinson and her best friend Melissa Causer went out partying last New Year they were excited about having a great night.

The women enjoyed glasses of berry cider together as they got dressed up in their party frocks at the latter’s home and then hit the town.

During the next few hours they went from pubs to a club in Middlesbrough while downing plenty of vodka and cokes, shots and cocktails.

But what started as a fun night out in the first days of the New Year of 2014 ended in tragedy when a drunken fight broke out between the two girls, leaving Miss Robinson blind in one eye.

Causer, 21, lashed out at Miss Robinson after a row that started over a can of hairspray and escalated over who should pay for a taxi home. But the underlying cause was too much alcohol.

Miss Robinson, 20, was pinned down by Causer, who then raised her foot and brought her silver stiletto down on her face three times. The final blow pierced Miss Robinson’s right eyeball, splitting it in two.

‘I want to warn people about the dangers of drinking excessively this new year – or at any other time for that matter,’ Miss Robinson said last night.

‘I had never seen Melissa act violently before but in that split second she changed from my best friend to the person who ruined my life.

‘I’m convinced she wouldn’t have done it if she hadn’t drunk so much. We were downing shots along with vodka and cokes and cocktails.

‘I had a couple of Sex on the Beach cocktails on top of the other drinks while Melissa had even more vodka and cokes. We must have had at least ten drinks each.

Horrifying: What started as a fun night out in the first days of the New Year of 2014 ended in tragedy when a drunken fight broke out between the two girls, leaving Miss Robinson (above) blind in one eye

‘My story is a warning of how excessive alcohol can make some people turn and lose control. I just get merry when I’m drinking but some people get violent after drinking, and Melissa clearly was one of those people.

‘Even then we still don’t really know what made her snap and do such a dreadful thing, but what is abundantly clear is that people need to be warned not to get really drunk as this can be the end result.

‘I’ve been really affected by this and I’m now frightened to go out at night. I certainly won’t be going out this New Year. It has had a massive impact on me. I used to be buoyant and bubbly and now I’m scared of my own shadow.’

After the savage assault in the early hours on January 11 this year, Miss Robinson was taken in excruciating pain to the Darlington Memorial Hospital where doctors fought to save her eye.

The horrific attack in Middlesbrough left Miss Robinson, from Brompton-on-Swale, North Yorkshire, with visible scars and blind for life in her injured right eye.

Causer was found guilty of causing grievous bodily harm with intent at Teesside Crown Court in August and was jailed for seven years in September.

‘I have never spoken to Melissa since the attack and I never want to,’ Miss Robinson said. ‘I’ve replayed that scene a million times in my head since it happened and I still can’t believe she did it to me.

‘She showed no remorse in court and she has never tried to say sorry to me. If she had wanted to I’m sure she could have told the police to let me know how sorry she was, but she didn’t. I hate her now for what she did to me.’

Support: Miss Robinson (left) in hospital after the attack at the start of the year, with her little sister Savannah, 10, who stayed for a sleepover

Talking about the night it happened, Miss Robinson said: ‘Melissa had been in a really happy mood that Friday night. We were having a giggle as we got dolled up at her home before we went out, and I did her hair for her as usual, putting in her extensions and curling it for her.

‘We drank berry ciders in wine glasses as we got ready. I was wearing a tight black and white floral dress and Melissa was dressed in a little black dress with her flashy silver stilettos on.

‘Melissa often worked nights as a carer in a care home so we made the most of it when she had a night off and we were able to go out together.

I had never seen Melissa act violently before but in that split second she changed from my best friend to the person who ruined my life Sophie Robinson

‘We headed out at 10pm, and were out drinking until the early hours when the attack happened. We had been to the Barracuda pub first and then on to another lively pub with a dance floor.

‘She didn’t have room for her hairspray in her handbag so asked me to put it in mine, but my bag was really small and she also wanted me to look after her contact lens case so I squeezed that into my bag and there was so little room left I had to put my mobile down inside my bra.

‘I said I was sorry I couldn’t look after her hairspray as well. She forced it inside her bag and later when she was in the loo at the club, and was already worse for wear, she rummaged inside her bag and dropped the hairspray out.

‘When she realised she hadn’t got it she was angry and accused me of nicking it. I told her I hadn’t and that she must have dropped it and suggested we went back to look for it but she said to forget it.

‘Outside the club Melissa was clearly drunk and even approached a policeman to tell him someone had nicked her hairspray. She then started talking to two lads while I was waiting inside the taxi I had ordered to take us back to her home.

‘I kept calling her but she ignored me and eventually they cab driver said he couldn’t wait any longer and we would have to leave, so we did.’

Lengthy process: Miss Robinson is pictured in hospital after the attack, going through the initial stage of having a prosthetic eye fitted

Miss Robinson, who is training to be a child care assistant, continued: ‘I had no key to Melissa’s house so was waiting outside when her taxi pulled up.

‘She called me over to pay £20 for her taxi. I gave her £16 but she demanded I pay the rest because I had left her. I could tell she was fuming. She got out of the taxi and shoved me.

‘I got up and walked to the front door to get her dad to let us in, but Melissa marched over and dragged me to the ground. She kicked my legs to make them give way. I was in complete shock.

Couple: Miss Robinson with boyfriend Steve Mayes

‘She pinned me down by sitting on top of me. She clearly knew how to fight and it was the first time I had seen her dark side. I was helpless because her entire weight was on me.

‘I thought my ordeal was over when her dad suddenly arrived back home from the pub and tried to lift her off, but it was then she started stamping on me. The pain was terrible. The last thing I saw with that eye was Melissa bringing down her foot on my face.’

One stamp landed above her left eye, another hit the side of her head, and the third penetrated her right eye.

After she was taken inside the house, Miss Robinson said: ‘I felt a burning sensation and excruciating pain. I looked in the bathroom mirror and noticed how swollen and bruised my eye was. I put a cold towel over it because when I tried to open it blood came pouring out.

‘I told them I needed to go to hospital and they took me there in a taxi. The doctors told me I could lose my eye and I needed surgery.

‘I couldn’t think what my life was going to be like only being able to look out of one eye. I didn’t have time because they had to take me straight to theatre.

‘When she started attacking me I kept shouting for her to stop but she carried on. Now I’ll never be able to see out of my right eye again and it has changed my life forever.

‘I’ve been left devastated. I can’t believe my friend did this to me. Looking back, there were times when Melissa had boasted about being violent to other people but I thought she was just bigging herself up and I’d never seen her like that.’

Speaking about how she and her mother feel betrayed by Causer, Miss Richardson said: ‘We had known each other for three years after meeting at Darlington College where we were both doing a health and social care course.

‘After college she started work as a health care assistant in a care home for elderly people with dementia, while I did a degree in early childhood studies, but our friendship continued.

‘It staggers me to think that someone as violent and unstable as Melissa was still allowed to work as a carer after the attack, yet her employers let her until she was convicted even though my mum rang to warn them about her.

Family: Miss Robinson (right) with her mother Sophie Walker (left) following the attack. They were shocked that her attacker spun a web of lies when she went to the hospital with her injured friend

‘But before the attack there was nothing about her which made alarm bells ring. There were certainly no signs of her being violent.

‘Melissa had told me she suffered from OCD and had to always have her hairsprays lined up in her bedroom in exactly the right way, and also had to go round unplugging everything from the sockets and things like that.

‘My mum said it was a bit odd, but then lots of people suffer from OCD so we weren’t alarmed about it.’

Miss Robinson and her mother, Sophie Walker, are also shocked that Causer spun a web of lies when she went to the hospital with her injured friend.

Ms Walker, a 40-year-old community matron, said: ‘Melissa rang me at 6.50am to say not to worry but my daughter was in hospital.

‘I was very shocked and asked her what happened and she said that Sophie had got caught up in a fight between two boys and had been stabbed in the eye with a stiletto.

Melissa rang me at 6.50am to say not to worry but my daughter was in hospital... she said that Sophie had got caught up in a fight between two boys and had been stabbed in the eye with a stiletto Sophie Walker, mother

‘As I raced to the hospital I kept thinking that Melissa’s story just didn’t ring true. Why would these boys have had stilettos?

‘The doctors confirmed that Sophie had had a stiletto in her eye. It was so bad they couldn’t even see the eye as so much of the fluid had leaked out.

‘As Sophie was taken down for a CCTV head scan I told Melissa that my daughter was going to lose her eye. I said I was going to ring the police so they could hunt for these two men. A worried nurse also kept saying that we needed to ring the police.

‘I had asked Sophie before she was taken for the scan but she kept saying ‘ask Melissa’.

‘Just before I rang the police Melissa owned up that it was her. She still lied and said she had hit Sophie with her hand not a stiletto. I phoned the police while Sophie was in theatre having surgery.

‘The police came and arrested Melissa straight away. Even in court Melissa continued to lie and claimed that she attacked Sophie because she had stolen from her, and she claimed that what happened was an accident.

‘Melissa’s dad told the court that he had pushed his daughter off Sophie. He said he hadn’t seen her stamping on Sophie, but it was obvious from his evidence that it was his daughter who was being aggressive.’

Miss Robinson said: ‘I gave evidence behind a screen and Mum and I watched when Melissa was sentenced. Mum said before Melissa had gone inside the court building she was laughing and joking with her family outside while her boyfriend glared at Mum in an intimidating manner.

‘Even while I gave evidence I could hear some of her family muttering unpleasant comments about me inside the court room!’

Healing process: Miss Robinson said doctors hope that as her eye muscles relax they will be able to cope with the new prosthetic eye

Miss Robinson had her new prosthetic eye fitted on December 10.

‘The new eye is much better than the previous one,’ Miss Robinson said, ‘but there are still problems. It’s still a bit too big, and I have to go back in March for a check-up and may have to have some adjustments made to it.

‘I have to take it out each day and at the moment it is a bit painful when she I put it back in. I still have some feeling in the small bit of eye which remained in there, and I’ve realised that it is sensitive to light.

‘The doctors hope that as my eye muscles relax they will be able to cope with the new prosthetic eye better, but if I can’t cope with it then they will have to make alterations again. It is very difficult getting it right.

‘I had a new eye fitted before but it was the wrong colour and size and the pupil wasn’t right. It was only obvious once the eye had been fitted, but Mum and I knew immediately at that stage that it wasn’t right.

‘The surgeons managed to save a bit of my right eye and about 30 per cent is left in there, but it is not functioning because it was split right through.

‘They said they sewed it back up more for psychological reasons as they said that then at least I would know I still had part of my original eye in there.

Before the attack there was nothing about her which made alarm bells ring. There were certainly no signs of her being violent Sophie Richardson

‘The prosthetic eye then fills the remainder of the hole. It is made from wax and has a plastic coating. They then hand paint them in Blackpool to match it to my iris and the blue colour of my eye.

‘When I went for the fitting with the specialist nurse Mum and I selected six different eyes from the models they had as templates for my new eye.’

Miss Richardson said losing an eye has caused her many difficult situations. ‘I’m still allowed to drive,’ she said, ‘and I drive to uni in Teesside in Middlesbrough, but my distance perception has been affected and I have to be very careful if I overtake as instead of glancing out of my right eye I now have to turn my head right round to look over my right shoulder with my left eye which isn’t exactly easy.

‘It’s also much more difficult to focus my vision on anything in the distance now. And it has hugely affected my confidence.

‘One of the things is that because I can’t see properly I’m worried that if I go out and accidentally bumped into someone they might think it was deliberate and I could end up being attacked again.

‘And it takes me so long to get ready to go out now as I have to carefully fit my new eye in before I can do my make-up and get dressed.’

Ms Walker said: ‘Now my daughter has had her new eye fitted I’ve told her she has to move on. It sounds hard, but I don’t want this horrible incident to drag her down.

‘She has understandably become very down and withdrawn, but I’m encouraging her to finish off her degree. She is in her third year but has lost confidence and motivation.

‘But throughout this ordeal she has been amazingly brave and I’m so proud of her. It’s been a hell of an ordeal for her to go through again but we are determined that she has a prosthetic eye which looks as normal as possible.’

Speaking about her daughter’s attacker, Ms Walker said: ‘I had met Melissa half a dozen times, both at our house and at her home, as well as at the college and also when the girls were shopping together.