A WHEELCHAIR-BOUND husband-beater, who stabbed her partner in the neck as he slept, was locked up indefinitely after a judge ruled yesterday she was a danger to any man she formed a relationship with.

Grey-haired Heather Bristow, 51, was told she would be released from prison only when experts were convinced she no longer posed a risk to potential partners.

A court heard that Bristow has a history of violence dating back three decades, and had been jailed for a year in 1979 for stabbing her then boyfriend.

Last year, her long-term relationship with 59-year-old fellow alcoholic Thomas Finlay descended into violence following the death of Bristow's father.

On one occasion, she stabbed Mr Finlay with a potato peeler and was arrested and held in custody for two weeks, but he withdrew the complaint to police.

Last December, Bristow was given a supervision order by magistrates after she was convicted of assault.

Richard Parsell, prosecuting, told Teesside Crown Court yesterday that on that occasion police were called to the couple's home when Bristow made a false allegation of rape.

Officers found Mr Finlay in the front room of their Hartlepool home with head and facial injuries and Bristow naked in the bedroom, and arrested her for assault.

But within four months of being put on supervision, Bristow had twice again attacked her partner - once after he came home following a drinking session when she clawed his face.

The second incident - in which she stabbed Mr Finlay in the neck with a knife - was sparked by Bristow being told she was to be evicted for anti-social behaviour.

"Fortunately, it was not a life-threatening injury," Mr Parsell told the judge, Recorder Simon Myerson. "It seems to have avoided everything of significance in the neck."

Mr Finlay summoned help by pulling a cord to alert staff at the warden-controlled home, and police who were called had to carry Bristow to their van.

Mr Recorder Myerson told Bristow: "This was a nasty offence with a knife on an unprotected man as he slept. You wanted to do him really serious harm, and you did.

"You have a record for violence, which is sporadic but demonstrates that you are prepared to use it if you get drunk enough to think that that's an appropriate way forward."

Bristow, of Staindrop Street, admitted assault by beating on April 3 and wounding with intent to inflict grievous bodily harm between April 13 and 17.

Her barrister, Paul Cleasby, said the relationship was now over and, when Bristow is eventually released - the minimum term was set at 15 months - she will live with her mother.

Bristow will remain on "life licence" if she is freed, and would be recalled by the Home Secretary if there was any reason to think she would be a risk in the community.

The court heard that Bristow was unwilling to seek assistance for her alcohol and anger problems, and once chased officials from her home, shouting: "I don't want any help from do-gooders.