TWO women have been jailed for more than three years each for violent and sustained attacks in Dalmuir.

Deborah Douglas, 34, and Michelle Graham, 33, pleaded guilty last week to assaulting two women on July 14, leaving one needing repeated surgeries to repair tendons in her hand and arm.

One victim was subjected to a 15-minute assault before they confronted the other, a knife plunged into her wrist from one side to the other.

Douglas was on bail from months earlier and Graham still had an ASBO dating back to 2013 at the time of their attacks, of which they claimed to have little memory.

Just before 6pm on July 14, a woman and a friend turned up to visit a third woman in Burnside Court. When they found she was not home, one of the women took the lift to the ground floor where she found the friend and both were soon confronted by Douglas and Graham.

The pair began to shout at the woman and she “responded in kind”, depute fiscal David McDonald told Dumbarton Sheriff Court.

Both stopped the lift door from closing and continued to fight with the woman and prevent her escape.

The friend tried to force back Douglas and Graham when Douglas spat at the other woman and threw an empty can at her.

Both Douglas and Graham managed to assault the woman by pulling her hair, punching her on the head and kicking her on the body in a sustained attack lasting 15 minutes, all while the friend tried to prevent it. Everything was captured on CCTV.

Eventually the two women managed to get the lift doors closed and went back upstairs where they informed the third woman about what happened. That woman then headed downstairs and exited Burnside Court via the fire escape and found Douglas and Graham standing there.

Douglas launched into the woman and a struggle broke out with both ending up on the ground, Douglas punching and kicking her repeatedly.

Graham ran off and retrieved a black-handled knife and returned where Douglas was still attacking the woman.

Douglas shouted to Graham, “f****** stab her” and “kill her”. Both woman admitted attacking the woman with the knife.

Police traced the women nearby a short time later. The victim had a penetrative wound to the left forearm and required surgery for one tendon that was cut in two and for partial deviation to tendons to the wrist. There is permanent scarring and it is unknown if her impairment is permanent.

Douglas was sentenced to seven months in jail just a week after the attack for two separate matters.

Her defence solicitor, Brian McGuire, said last week that Douglas blamed a combination of drink and medication to help the mum-of-one forget about an attack she had suffered herself.

Mr McGuire said: “She does not have the greatest recollection of the events.

“The tragedy of this is she has known the complainers for years and appears to have been on friendly terms with them.”

Roddy Boag, representing mum-of-two Graham, said she remembered little of the second attack with the knife, but accepted the description of what happened.

Sheriff Maxwell Hendry pointed out that Graham was the person “who introduced the knife, though it’s used by both”.

Mr Boag said Graham claimed the knife was not from her house. He admitted her previous criminal record did her “no favours”.

Sheriff Hendry, condemning the “unprovoked and unexplained” attacks, jailed Douglas for a total of 37 months and Graham for 39 months, both backdated to July 15.