A WOMAN accused of two serious knife attacks in separate incidents has been found not guilty by a jury.

Jane Sargent wept as she realised that she would walk free after nine months in custody.

The 35-year-old mother admitted stabbing her gay lover Sally Ann Jemmett, who almost died from a deep wound to her abdomen.

She denied having a knife in the second incident in which teenager Ryan Cunningham was slashed across the face and scarred for life.

Miss Sargent, of Corkwell Street, Chatham, pleaded not guilty to two charges of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and was cleared of both.

Maidstone Crown Court head how Miss Jemmett, also 35, was left with blood pouring from a two-inch wound. She lost so much blood that when she reached hospital she had no recordable blood pressure.

Andrew Espley, prosecuting, said Miss Sargent almost killed her girlfriend. "In both cases, there had been arguments before the incidents," he said. "Once she had lost her temper, it was simply ungovernable."

The jury of 10 men and two women heard that Miss Sargent had an argument with Miss Jemmett at her home in Brook Road, Faversham, in the early hours of January 1 last year.

It ended with Miss Sargent stabbing Miss Jemmett twice. She then called an ambulance and Miss Jemmett was found in the bathroom in a pool of blood.

Miss Jemmett, who had been in the relationship for about eight months, was taken to Kent and Canterbury Hospital, where doctors saved her life.

Miss Sargent claimed in evidence that she could not remember knifing her girlfriend.

She wept as she said: "The only image I have had in my head for over a year and four months is the look on her face when she told me I had stabbed her. I knew I must have stabbed her. I can’t remember stabbing her."

After being released on bail, Miss Sargent tried to commit suicide. She took an overdose and tried to hang herself, but was cut down by a nurse.

Miss Jemmett said she could remember nothing about what happened. She was in hospital for two-and-a-half weeks being treated for the wounds to her abdomen and left forearm.

Eight months later on August 20, Miss Sargent became embroiled in the second incident.

Mr Cunningham, 18, had been out with friends and then went to a flat in Boundary Road, Chatham, for drinks. Miss Sargent, who he did not know, also went along.

Mr Espley said there was an argument and Miss Sargent was asked to leave. That, he said, led to her losing her temper.

The prosecutor said when the teenager left Sargent was waiting outside with a knife an she caught him across the face with it.

Mr Cunningham said he was slashed across his left cheek and below his left ear and wounded in his shoulder. He told how he had been deeply affected by what happened.

"People look at me very differently - as if I was a troublemaker, or some sort of criminal," he said. "I get refused entry to night clubs. I get dirty looks from people in the street."

Miss Sargent claimed that she and a friend were attacked before Mr Cunningham suffered his injuries.

"One of the boys had a knife on him," she said. "It looked big, like a carving knife."

She claimed that Mr Cunningham ran at her and knocked her over a wall. "He punched down at me," she said. "I may have punched back, trying to get him off me."

Asked if she inflicted a wound to his face, she replied: "No, not as far as I know. When I landed on my back in the garden I could see something shiny."

She added: "I didn’t take a knife that evening. I didn’t take a knife off someone else and use it. I didn’t find a knife in the street."

The next day, she said, she ended up back in hospital having taken another overdose.

The jury took less than three hours to return not guilty verdicts.