A FITNESS instructor wept in court today as she told a jury that she was attacked twice by an unknown man in a matter of days.

Kelly Batchelor was attacked with a hammer-type object outside Ashdown Leisure Centre in Poole, where she worked, and with a weapon outside her home in Wavell Avenue, it is alleged.

During the first incident, which the court heard took place on August 30, Miss Batchelor was struck with the object as she left work.

Days later, on September 5, the victim said she had pulled into the driveway of her home when she was assaulted, suffering injuries to her head, arm and back.

She said: "I fell backwards at some point.

"I was lying on my back. I know I was hit a couple of times to the top of my head and I was bleeding quite nicely."

She struggled to keep from crying as she described the man's demeanour as "menacing", and added: "I was screaming."

Miss Batchelor's mother and father were both at the house at the time of the second alleged incident, and she said: "She [my mum] ran after him with her little bare feet.

"I got up off the floor and ran to the end of my drive as well but he legged it down the road."

She said he was joined by another man running away.

Miss Batchelor's 999 call was also played to the court.

In it, she told the operator: "He's the same guy that hit me last week."

Keith Harby, 39, of Long Easton, Nottingham, Robbie Northridge, 19, of no fixed abode, and Lanelle Douglas, 27, of High Main Drive, Bestwood Village, Nottingham, are accused together with three others of conspiring to cause grievous bodily harm with intent between January 1 and September 6 last year.

Three others, John Doyle, 35, of Alfreton, Derbyshire, Isn Edgeworth, 26, of Northwood Road, Nottingham, and a man who cannot be named for legal reasons but masterminded the plan, have previously pleaded guilty to the charge.

It is alleged that the three defendants conspired to attack Miss Batchelor, who was then 31, on three occasions, succeeding twice.

The prosecution has stated that the attacks on Miss Batchelor were carried out after the unnamed co-conspirator's fitness instructor girlfriend believed the victim was having an affair with him.

The trial at Winchester Crown Court continues.