A PENSIONER who cut her husband’s jugular vein with a knife during an argument and then told police ‘I hope he dies’ has been spared an immediate prison sentence.

Eunice White lashed out after her spouse goaded her to stab him during a drunken row while they had a meal after returning from a caravan holiday.

Durham Crown Court heard that the 72-year-old snapped after suffering years of domestic abuse and stabbed him in the neck.

Christopher Baker, prosecuting, said she called the police herself at 9.20pm on July 2 last year.

Mr Baker said: “She stated that she had stabbed her husband. She said she was sick of him abusing her. She was asked where she stabbed him.

“She said ‘As near his heart as I could. The man is a pig. He smacked me in the face. He thinks he can get away with it all the time’.”

By the time she finished the call police were at her house and she was arrested.

She told officers: “I hope he dies. He always bashed me.”

The court was told White was dressed in a nightdress and smelt of alcohol.

There was a large amount of blood on the floor of their home and broken crockery in the kitchen.

The victim, Peter White, had gone next door for help holding his throat and neighbours gave him a towel to stem the bleeding and called an ambulance.

When police spoke to him he said he would not press charges and said they had both been drinking.

The court heard the wound, 1cm wide and 4cm deep, missed the major blood vessels, but could have been fatal

Mr Baker said the jugular vein had been cut and there was ‘significant bleeding.’

Mr White was released from hospital the next day.

White, of Londonderry Street, Seaham, County Durham, pleaded guilty to wounding.

Gemma Hewitt, from the Probation Service, wrote a pre-sentence report for the mother-of-four.

She said: “Mrs White stated she had been a victim of domestic abuse throughout her married life.

“She regrets her actions and has no intention of further contact with Mr White.

“She is aware of the seriousness of the situation in which she has placed herself.”

Judge Christopher Prince sentenced her to a year in prison, suspended for a year.