Wrexham woman jailed after leaving stabbed victim in a pool of blood on Christmas Eve

A court was told how blood was spurting about a foot into the air from two stab wounds to the leg.

The attacker, Louise Dawn Anderson, 41, of Cefn Dre in Caia Park, changed her plea and admitted a wounding Lisa Marie Clutton. She was jailed for 29 months.

Judge David Hale told Mold Crown Court it was an unprovoked attack.

"This was a very serious assault.

"You used a knife on this lady's leg for no apparent reason," he said.

Judge Hale told Anderson that when someone was stabbed it was unpredictable what the consequences might be.

"You might have hit an artery. You might kill someone from quite a shallow wound," he said.

The judge said the sustained attack took place while people were out having a good time on Christmas Eve.

"They saw you stabbing at this woman for no reason whatsoever," he said.

Judge Hale said it did not help that Anderson had been drinking after failing to take medication which helped her to keep calm and that was her fault.

Ms Clutton, 42, who had known Anderson for about 20 years, was out with friends and at about 8pm she went to check on a homeless man.

She believed he would be sleeping in a doorway and went to see what he would be doing on Christmas Day.

But in King Street Anderson approached her and asked: "Do you recall when you ripped me off?"

She hit and kicked Ms Clutton and pulled her to the floor by her hair, but the victim got back to her feet momentarily.

The next thing she recalled was being back on the floor where Anderson dragged her by the hair using one hand and hitting her with the other.

Anderson produced a blade of some sort, probably a knife, and stabbed her twice to the leg, said barrister Nicholas Williams, prosecuting.

The victim did not see any weapon but a witness said she had a shiny object which looked sharp and the two wounds were consistent with being caused by a knife.

He said the victim did not initially realise what had happened but felt something warn running down her leg.

"Blood was spurting out of her leg about a foot in the air," Mr Williams said.

Anderson walked away calmly, leaving the victim with a significant amount of blood around her screaming that she had been stabbed.

There were two wounds to her left thigh which were still actively bleeding when she arrived in A&E.

She was given intravenous pain relief, the wounds were sutured and she was released later that day.

The victim also had swelling to the forehead and minor facial abrasions.

Armed police officers forced their way into her flat and found her lying behind a sofa with a knife under her. Two more knives were recovered.

She was handcuffed when she began headbutting a wall and she struggled with officers, shouted and was abusive,

Defence barrister Andrew Green said committing the offence was partly linked to her mental health issues.

She had been living independently, receiving benefits and regularly taking her medication for schizophrenia.

While taking her medication she was able to function independently.

On Christmas Eve she went out and had a drink and she had not taken her medication.

Mr Green said the injuries were not as serious as they could have been.

In Styal prison she was taking her medication regularly, she was doing English and maths classes and she was going to chapel once a week.

She had also put her name down for counselling and needed help over unresolved issues in her life which had contributed to her mental state as an adult, Mr Green explained.