A WOMAN who believed her exboyfriend was part of a conspiracy against her lured him to her home before locking it and stabbing him, a court has heard.

Kenneth Winter rushed to help convicted arsonist Deborah Barry after she set fire to her home and rang him, saying: “I’m going back to prison.”

When Mr Winter arrived at the house on the Headland, Hartlepool, Barry locked her doors and lunged at him with a knife as he tried to escape through a window.

Barry was yesterday jailed indefinitely for the protection of the public after a judge at Teesside Crown Court ruled she represents a high risk of serious harm.

The 40-year-old widow will be released from prison only when she can convince the Parole Board that she no longer poses a danger to others.

Judge Peter Bowers told Barry that her being freed could hinge on how she complies with those who want to help her tackle longstanding mental and alcohol problems.

The court heard that Barry was freed from prison for setting fire to her home only days before she did the same thing in the early hours of October 8 last year.

She had called and sent text messages to Mr Winter throughout the night, and he rushed to her home after hearing the smoke alarms going off in a 3.15am call.

After dealing with the alarms and burning curtains, 63-year-old Mr Winter tried to leave through a front door but found it locked, said Tom Mitchell, prosecuting.

Mr Mitchell said Barry “was almost smirking” when Mr Winter asked for the keys after finding that the back door to her Sea View Terrace home was also locked.

As he attempted to flee through a window, Mr Winter was stabbed in the left arm, and Barry tried to stick the blade in his stomach as he fended her off.

He finally disarmed Barry, found the keys in her dressinggown pocket, fled from the house and called the police, Mr Mitchell said.

Mr Mitchell said Barry should be classed as a risk to others because she had used the fire to get Mr Winter to her home in order to deliberately cause serious harm.

Paul Abrahams, in mitigation, said: “She tells me that she is not dangerous to other people. She accepts that she does things impulsively and she accepts that she drinks.

“She says that due to factors and circumstances around her life and how she perceives them – rightly or wrongly – she is only a threat in those particular circumstances.”

Barry pleaded guilty to wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm to Mr Winter, and an offence of arson being reckless as to whether life was endangered.