A WOMAN who stabbed her lesbian lover’s brother when he turned up on her doorstep with an angry mob of relatives walked free from court yesterday.

Jenna Horner plunged the camping knife into the stomach of Mark Spence when he put his hand to her throat as she tried to stop others invading her home.

Horner had earlier assaulted her girlfriend, Emma Spence, who left the scene in Middlesbrough and travelled to Newcastle and recruited the help of her family. Two car-loads of people headed south and turned up at Horner’s home in Midville Walk in the early hours of March 6, Teesside Crown Court was told.

The siblings claimed they had gone to retrieve Ms Spence’s belongings, but the court heard that there had been a series of menacing text messages before they arrived.

The frightened householder repeatedly said she did not want to let any of them in, but someone forced their way in before Mr Spence put his hand on or near her throat.

Horner, 24, denied a charge of wounding Mr Spence with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, but was convicted of the lesser offence of unlawful wounding.

At the beginning of her trial earlier this month, she pleaded guilty to a charge of common assault on Ms Spence hours before the more serious altercation. Judge Les Spittle yesterday imposed a ninemonth prison sentence, suspended for two years, with supervision and ordered her to do 150 hours of unpaid work.

He told Horner he was taking an exceptional course because he had heard about her efforts to put the matter behind her.

Since the stabbing, Horner has worked as a young ambassador for The Prince’s Trust, going to conferences and workshops to tell teenagers of her experiences.

“This is not a matter I take lightly,” said the judge. “You have seen the error of your ways and the magnitude of what you have done, and are seeking to remedy it.”

Caroline Goodwin, mitigating, told the court that Horner had excellent reports from The Prince’s Trust and the Probation Service, and was not a risk to the public.

“She has a chance of a positive future and to put this dreadful incident behind her,”

said Miss Goodwin. “This was an isolated incident.”