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A woman has avoided a jail sentence, despite stabbing her ex-boyfriend, because the judge said she had been the victim of "long term domestic and physical abuse".
Mother-of-two Emma Westwood, 36, was so worried about her own safety that she had successfully taken out a restraining order against Christopher Clark – but he kept ignoring it, for more than 18 months.
And, shockingly, when he was serving jail time for breaking it, he managed to track down his ex, who had since moved into a secret address in Greater Manchester.
Having found her, he turned up drunk on vodka and attacked her with the broken bottle, the Mail Online reports.
It was then that she stabbed him, having fought back, twice in the chase causing him to run into a the street and collapse.
She was charged with wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm but was only given a 16-month suspended jail term for two years and Minshull Street Crown Court in Manchester.
The attack took place at 3am on April 17, after police were called to the scene by Westwood's father to find Clark on the ground with blood pouring from his wounds.
He recovered but failed to give a statement to police about what happened, and she was arrested after admitting to carrying out the stabbing but in self defence.
Sentencing Judge John Potter told Westwood: "In June 2018, you started a relationship with Christopher Clark. You had a child together and you have another child from a previous relationship.
"Your relationship between the two of you is categorised by you being the subject of a number of incidents of domestic violence at his hands.
"The evidence for that assertion is plain from the analysis of Christopher Clark's previous criminal convictions.
"In September 2019, he was convicted for battery and for sending menacing communications and the victim in that case, was you.
"A restraining order was granted in your favour which remains in place until March 2022.
"You yourself were the victim of long term domestic and physical abuse, that abuse being at the hands of Christopher Clark.
"To your credit, you told the police the truth about what had happened.
"You were honest and open with the police immediately.
"The knife you used is a very dangerous weapon, but there is exceptional mitigation to stop you from going to custody today."
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- Crime
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