Ipswich Crown Court

A Lowestoft woman who stabbed her ex-partner with a screwdriver has received a suspended jail sentence.

Allison Burrows, 41, of Leas Drift, was given a 12-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, and ordered to do 180 hours of unpaid work in the community when she appeared at Ipswich Crown Court last Friday.

She was also told to pay £1,000 costs

Burrows was appearing for sentencing after being acquitted last month of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm on July 13 last year. She denied the offence and was found not guilty after a trial, but she later admitted a less serious charge of unlawfully wounding her former partner.

During the trial, the jury heard Burrows had armed herself with a screwdriver before going to confront her ex-partner about him seeing another woman. She put the screwdriver up the sleeve of her cardigan and claimed it had slipped down her sleeve and injured him when she lost her temper and punched him.

The court heard the Burrows and her ex-partner had split up after a row last June. Giving evidence during her trial, Burrows claimed that she had wanted to get back with her ex and on July 13 she was feeling more hopeful about a reconciliation after he visited her and promised her he was not seeing anyone else. However, after he left, she got a text saying he had been seeing another woman.

After texting him and not receiving a reply, she went to the other woman’s house to confront him.

Burrows claimed she put a screwdriver up her sleeve for her own protection, as she did not know how many people would be at the house. But after confronting her ex-partner, she lost her temper and punched him.

She told the court she was unaware that when she struck him, the screwdriver had slipped out of the sleeve of her cardigan, causing him eight wounds to his legs, chest, abdomen and arm.

None of the cuts was particularly deep, the court was heard.