A TEENAGE girl who held a buzzing chainsaw just inches away from the head of a man has been jailed for 18 months.

Mustapher Khan sat terrified in the passenger seat of a car as Victoria Ashworth, then aged 17, revved the deadly chainsaw in his face.

She then threatened to “cut up” the victim, his nine-year-old son and another man in the car before walking away.

Jailing her yesterday, Judge Stephen Everett, sitting at Bolton Crown Court, said: “The chainsaw could so easily have gone into his face, his chest, his arm and you would have killed him.

“At the time, it is clear to me that you were very pleased to see the fear and you were well aware that the little boy was crying out ‘Daddy’.”

The court heard how Mr Khan had taken his son to train at Amir Khan’s gym near Bolton town centre on May 7, accompanied by his friend, Faisal Farooki.

Jeremy Lasker, prosecuting said the two men and the boy were stood near Mr Farooki’s car in Prince Street when they heard the revving of a petrol-driven chainsaw.

Ashworth was with another man and Shaun Devaney, aged 22, who was holding the chainsaw.

Mr Lasker said Devaney appeared to have the letters BNP tattooed on his head and began shouting abuse at the Asian men.

He then handed the saw to Ashworth and walked towards them. The victims retreated to their car, putting Mr Khan’s frightened son in the back seat.

Then, as Mr Khan sat in the front passenger seat, Ashworth put the chainsaw, which was running, inside the vehicle just inches from his head. She also threatened to cut them up.

A concerned resident who had seen the group with the chainsaw and Mr Khan phoned police. Ashworth was arrested later the same day after being identified from CCTV footage.

When interviewed by police, Ashworth claimed to have become angry after an argument started with Mr Khan.

She added that Devaney was not tattooed with BNP on his head, but instead she had written the letters BNB, standing for Bad Naughty Boy.

Brian McKenna, defending, said Ashworth, who uses crack cocaine and heroin and suffers from depression, had no previous convictions.

Ashworth, of Sefton Court, pleaded guilty to affray at an earlier hearing.

Sentencing her to 18 months in prison, with half of it to be spent out on licence, Judge Everett said: “If you involve yourself with the use of a deadly weapon and you come close to causing really serious injury, the public would look askance if any other sentence than custody was passed.”

The court heard that Ashworth’s co-accused, Devaney, is on the run after failing to appear for his sentencing on November 14.