A nightie-clad woman – who denied plunging a knife into her jealous lover during an argument – was overheard telling her father by phone: "I stabbed him".

Furious Ruth Hillman, 31 of Bay Mews, Herne Bay had denied unlawful wounding but was convicted by a jury at Canterbury Crown Court.

Her ex-lover Daniel Bessell told how both of them had been drinking cider and began arguing after he looked at text messages on her mobile phone.

Hillman, who had spent six months in custody awaiting her trial, was given a 12-month jail sentence - which resulted in her being released immediately.

Mr Bessell said: "We had argued because I had gone through her phone and checked her text messages and deleted some.

"She was angry. I saw her get the knife from the kitchen. I went to leave and got backed into the corner.

"I didn't think she would do it, but she then just stabbed me with a knife in my shoulder which she had taken from a kitchen.

"I wasn't doing anything to her at the time. I didn't have a weapon."

Mr Bessell then walked out and went to the rail station and called the ambulance from a telephone box.

He was taken to hospital in Margate and was later treated for the wound to his shoulder.

Richard Cherrill, prosecuting, said the blood-soaked nightie was then hidden in a draw by Hillman, who also put the knife under the fridge.

He added: "She felt she had good reason to stab him because she was fed up to the back teeth with him being drunk and looking at her phone messages."

Police arrived at her home and overheard Hillman talking on the phone to her father.

She was heard to say: "Can you get around here please. (He) has come round and let himself into my flat and I have stabbed him. I need you to come round because the police are here."

She said she needed her father to look after her child: "so I can clean up the blood".

"I didn't think she would do it, but she then just stabbed me with a knife in my shoulder which she had taken from a kitchen..." - victim Daniel Bessell

Hillman added: "You might think I am a bit mad or something, but at the time I was worried about the carpet. I was renting the place and had only been there two weeks."

Hillman wept as she said she lied to police because she feared Mr Bessell was going to take away her baby and the children would then be taken away by social services.

She said: "I was just thinking about my children. I said that (to my father) because I was scared. I was panicking and screaming. Every time the police tell social services it makes my life worse.

"I lied repeatedly but I don't think I stabbed him like that. I now wish I had told the truth. When I picked up the knife my intention was just to scare him into leaving. I never intended to harm him.

"I was wearing a nightie, I had no shoes or socks on. I felt ashamed that he was there."

Hillman has a previous conviction for arming herself with a knife and threatening to kill her mother.

Judge Nigel Van Der Bijl told her: "The jury's verdict was almost inevitable and shows the jury was sympathetic and that you didn't intend to do him serious bodily harm."

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