A MAN who followed his partner’s wishes by stabbing her in the leg during a drunken row was spared an immediate prison sentence.

Durham Crown Court heard that in the altercation – following a six to eight bottle wine “binge” – Robert Richardson’s partner expressed a desire to self-harm.

Graeme Cook, prosecuting, said Richardson took two knives from the kitchen, pointing the tip of a bread knife onto the women’s thigh and asking if she wanted him to stab her.

She told him: “Go on then”, so he tapped the top of the handle and the blade barely pierced her jeans.

Mr Cook said Richardson then placed the other, a chef’s knife, on her left thigh.

But, when he tapped the top of the handle he was shocked when it pierced her thigh, through her clothing, causing immediate blood loss.

“He called the police and his demeanour suggested he did not expect it to go into her leg,” said Mr Cook.

The knife was said to have caused a two to three inch deep wound and Richardson pulled it out, before trying to stem the blood flow with towels, until the arrival of emergency services, amid fears it could be life threatening.

The injured woman was taken to hospital for further treatment to a wound through deep tissue and muscle, but which did not cause damage nerve or blood vessel damage.

Mr Cook said the victim chose not to support the prosecution, declining to give an impact statement or to seek a restraining order.

He told the court of a “brief history” of recent police call outs to other “incidents” involving the pair, but none resulting in a prosecution.

Richardson immediately came clean to police at his partner’s Spennymoor home, on the night of the knife incident, Friday April 21.

The 33-year-old former chef, of North Street, Spennymoor, admitted wounding/inflicting grievous bodily harm at his first court appearance.

Zoe Passfield, mitigating, said Richardson has experienced his first ever taste of custody, spending the last five weeks behind bars after breaching his bail terms by texting the injured woman.

But Miss Passfield added that a friend has contacted the defendant to say that his erstwhile partner would be happy for him to contact her, on his release, with a view to a reconciliation.

Recorder Andrew Dallas said amid the, “slightly unusual circumstances” of the incident, given Richardson’s immediate remorse and his previous good record, he was able to suspend a ten-month prison sentence for two years.

He ordered Richardson to undergo a 24-week course to address his drinking and complete 20 rehabilitation activity days, both overseen by the Probation Service.