A WOMAN who stabbed her partner in the chest after he “egged” her on to kill him has been spared jail.

Elenor Abbott and Craig Vernell had been drinking and taking cocaine at their home in Leigh before a row broke out.

Liverpool Crown Court heard how Mr Vernell had grabbed her wrists following a scuffle, before Abbott said she hated Mr Vernell, who eventually asked her: “If you hate me why don’t you kill me?”

She responded by picking up a kitchen knife and stabbing him in the chest, said Henry Riding, prosecuting.

The blow resulted in his left lung collapsing, and he needed to go to hospital and have a chest drain inserted.

Mr Vernell told her he would not involve the police immediately after the attack, but she responded by stabbing him again - in the arm. The victim needed six stitches.

The couple are no longer together, but Liverpool Crown Court heard Mr Vernell later told police he did not want her to go to jail.

Sentencing her to 20 months imprisonment suspended for 18 months, Recorder Brian Cummings QC, said Abbott has two dependent children and there is a low risk of her re-offending.

He placed her under supervision for 18 months and ordered her to attend a "building skills for recovery" probation programme.

Abbott, aged 32, of Widows Street, Leigh, had pleaded guilty to wounding before her September 5 sentencing.

Mr Riding said the offence happened on January 25 this year.

The couple, who had been together for about a year, had shared three bottles of wine and taken "a couple of lines of cocaine".

Abbott pleaded guilty on the basis that that she had been scared and acted in self-defence but had not intended to cause him serious harm.

She said she was sorry for what she had done and accepted responsibility.

Abbott wiped away tears in the dock when a statement was read from Mr Vernell, in which he said he was worried about her children if she went to prison.

Mr Vernell told the court Abbott had made a mistake and he still cared for her and did not want her to be jailed.