Andrea Madden's boyfriend Royce Ali threw away her slimming pills because they were 'making her withdrawn'

by Julia Roberts

A woman who repeatedly stabbed her boyfriend after he ordered her out of his house during a heated row over diet pills has been jailed for seven years.

Andrea Madden, 29, grabbed a knife in Royce Ali's kitchen and inflicted wounds to his left arm and chest on January 29.

Madden, of no fixed address, denied wounding with intent, but was convicted by a jury at Maidstone Crown Court.

She is expected to serve two-thirds of her sentence, less 182 days already spent in custody on remand.

Mr Ali told the court violence erupted at his home in Allens Mead, Gravesend, when Madden complained that he had thrown away her slimming pills.

"I had already told her I was going to throw them away," he said. "She started showing signs of getting withdrawn and stuff. It was the effect they were having on her."

Mr Ali said he also complained his girlfriend had not tidied up. His son Grant, 23, then had "a stand-up argument" with Madden.

"my left arm was open. i could see flesh and muscle. then i noticed i was bleeding from my chest…" – andrea madden's boyfriend royce ali

Madden stormed off upstairs. Mr Ali went to see her and she told him their relationship was over and she would be gone the next day.

After Mr Ali's son and 13-year-old daughter left the house, Madden went into the kitchen and asked him: "Are you happy now?"

"She started going on about Grant," he told the jury. "I said: 'Stop it or you can get out now.' She carried on. I said: 'I tell you what, get out.'

"That’s when she went mad. She went for a knife. Within a matter of seconds she was repeatedly stabbing me. I was saying: 'Stop it, Andrea.'

"I grabbed her hand and that's how I ended up getting my hand sliced. I was struggling with her. I was trying to grab her arms.

"I didn’t realise I had been stabbed. It was the adrenalin. I got the knife out of her hand and threw it in the sink. I said: 'What have you done?'

"My left arm was open. I could see flesh and muscle. Then I noticed I was bleeding from my chest."

Mr Ali said he told Madden to call for an ambulance, but she phoned the police and said: "Help me, my boyfriend’s attacking me."

He was taken to King’s College Hospital, London, and his wounds were stitched.