An abused wife stabbed her husband in the chest with a kitchen knife after he shook a milk bottle in her face and struck her with a broomstick, Bradford Crown Court heard.

Anne Dunn had suffered years of violence in her 21-year-old marriage before she used excessive self-defence on James Dunn when he threatened to get a hammer and kill her.

She stabbed him with a single blow that narrowly missed his heart during a confrontation in the early hours of December 29, 2020, at their home in Barkerend Road, Bradford.

Dunn, 47, pleaded guilty to unlawful wounding and was spared an immediate prison sentence after her husband stated: “I don’t blame Anne for what happened. I’m no angel myself.”

Prosecutor Nadim Bashir said she was living at an address in Girlington, Bradford, when she called 999 after stabbing Mr Dunn at the matrimonial home.

Police arrived to find paramedics tending to him in the kitchen.

Dunn showed officers the knife and said: “We had a domestic.”

Mr Bashir said she was very upset and told them she didn’t do it on purpose. Her husband was hitting her and she stabbed him.

Mr Dunn had life-saving surgery at Leeds General Infirmary after the knife pierced the structure around his heart. He was discharged from hospital five days later and had since made a good recovery, the court was told.

Dunn told the police he shook a milk bottle in her face, spat at her and whacked her with a broomstick.

She picked up the knife when he said he was going to get a hammer to kill her.

She immediately called for an ambulance after the stabbing and assisted him by pressing on the wound until paramedics arrived.

Dunn said her husband had “anger issues” and had attacked her a lot over the years. He had broken her nose on one occasion by throwing a microwave oven at her.

Her barrister, Jayne Beckett, said: “She was trapped in a domestic situation/marriage which had become abusive.”

Dunn’s husband did not want her to go to prison and he would lose his home if she was locked up.

Mrs Beckett said of the stabbing: “There’s undeniably an unusual and graphic back-ground to it.”

Dunn’s husband was far from blameless, she told the court.

“She was upset and beside herself afterwards,” Mrs Beckett said.

On Friday, Recorder Ian Mullarkey sentenced Dunn to 22 months imprisonment, suspended for 18 months, with 170 hours of unpaid work and 20 rehabilitation activity days.

She had no previous convictions and had acted in excessive self-defence when her husband said he was getting a hammer to kill her.