A woman who stabbed her partner in the back with a kitchen knife in an argument over a betting win has been given a suspended prison sentence.

Stirling May had won £900 on horse racing earlier in the day and had agreed to give £260 of it to his girlfriend, Jacqueline Massey, said Deborah Smithies, prosecuting.

But that night, while he was in bed, they argued, she stabbed him and he saw blood spurting from his back near his shoulder blade.

“He forcibly took (the knife) off her, grabbed his clothes and ran from the house. In the street, he dressed and he went to the home of his ex-wife because she had a telephone,” said Ms Smithies.

He suffered a 1cm cut that was treated at hospital.

Massey, 40, of Fairfax Avenue, Selby, has previous convictions for stabbing an ex-boyfriend with a knife in the back and slashing his arms in 2000, and on another occasion, pushing a glass into the face of her then partner.

She pleaded guilty to wounding Mr May and was given a 12-month prison sentence, suspended for two years on condition she does 12 months supervision and observe a 12-hour nightly curfew for three months.

For Massey, Glenn Parsons said both she and Mr May had been drinking and their relationship had been volatile.

According to Massey, Mr May owed her money which she had lent him from an inheritance she had had. She had asked for the money to be returned when Mr May won his bet, but he became angry.

She had health problems that included a back complaint, the court heard.