A mother was attacked with a claw hammer as she collected her children from school.

Another mother is accused of pulling the weapon from her hand bag before trying to strike Michelle Wood, as children left school for the day last Thursday (APR 30).

Teachers at Bewbush Primary, Crawley, detained the angry parent as emergency services rushed to the scene.

Witnesses who saw the assault described their horror.

One parent, who did not want to be named said: “She held up the hammer and swung it down.

"Luckily she saw it coming and moved and only took a glancing blow."

Another parent said the incident happened in front of a group of children.

She said: "It was absolutely awful She just took the hammer out of her handbag."

It is believed the attacker may have been involved in an argument before the incident.

A spokesman for Sussex Police said: "We were called to an incident at around 3.30pm. Teachers had detained a woman who had been involved in an altercation.

"An ambulance was called but the victim did not require hospital treatment."

A woman was arrested and taken to Crawley Police Station after the incident on Thursday last week.

Bewbush Headteacher Liz Harrison said: "I can confirm that there was an incident at the school on Thursday afternoon and that the police are now dealing with it."

In March, the school was placed in special measures after Ofsted inspectors said the school was failing to provide an acceptable standard of education.

Miss Harrison recently took over as the school's permanent headteacher, ending a spell of temporary heads.

BLOB: A 29-YEAR-OLD woman appeared at Crawley Magistrates' Court on Saturday, charged with attempting to cause grievous bodily harm.

She was remanded in custody until a preliminary hearing at Lewes Crown Court on July 31.