A TEENAGE trainee chef who was stabbed in an horrific attack has quit her catering course - because of her fear of knives.

Pauline Barton, 17, was a star student on the catering course at Bolton College before she was stabbed last September.

On Tuesday the BEN revealed that 69-year-old George Campbell who lived in the flat below Pauline in Steele Gardens, Darcy Lever, had been sentenced to three years' probation as well as receiving outpatient psychiatric care after he admitted wounding her with intent. Pauline, a former pupil of Smithills School, was stabbed twice in her chest and once in the back with an eight-inch kitchen knife during the attack.

The promising student had already won second place in a catering competition, had completed her NVQ Part One in catering and was due to start the second year of her course.

But Pauline says she hasn't been able to return to college since the stabbing and has finally decided that she can't face going back.

She says she wouldn't be able to use a knife with the high-speed precision needed by caterers and says she feels too ill to return following her ordeal.

Pauline said: "There's no way I could go back to college and use a knife as quickly as you need to in catering. I'm just too scared of cutting myself.

"If I had gone back to college I would have had to start all over again, learning how to hold knives properly and how to cut with them.

"When I first got out of hospital I had to cut an orange and my hands were shaking. I asked my younger brother to stay with me while I used the knife."

Pauline's mum, Avril, told of her disappointment after learning that her daughter could not face going back to college.

Mrs Barton used to be a cook and Pauline's great-uncle was a top chef, who even cooked a meal for Prince Philip.

But Avril, of Beechcroft Avenue, Darcy Lever, says that her daughter will now not be able to continue the family's catering trend.

She added: "We're extremely upset about it all but Pauline just can't stand seeing big kitchen knives.

"She's not got a problem if you are using a small knife to butter bread but if she sees a large kitchen knife she sometimes has flashbacks."

Now the Bolton teenager says that, with her hopes of catering success in ruins, she would like to become a teacher.

Pauline added: "Now all I want to do is to try and get a job. I love kids and would really enjoy being a teacher. There's no way I'd go into catering."

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