A man who was stabbed by his wife during a row kissed and hugged her outside court after a judge decided not to send her to prison.

IPSWICH: A man who was stabbed by his wife during a row kissed and hugged her outside court after a judge decided not to send her to prison.

Mother-of-three Gayle Bass had plunged a knife into her husband Paul’s chest in the kitchen of their home in Shakespeare Road, Ipswich in June and following her arrest she was forced to live apart from his as a condition of her bail.

However, Mr Bass, 36, has since forgiven his wife and after she was given a suspended prison sentence for the attack the couple said they were looking forward to getting on with their lives together.

Ipswich Crown Court heard that immediately after the stabbing Bass had grabbed a tea towel and pressed it against the wound and had called for an ambulance.

Michael Crimp, prosecuting, said the couple’s nine-year-old son had come on the scene after the stabbing and Bass could be heard on a recording of the 999 call pleading with the emergency services to look after her husband and to get there quickly.

Mr Bass was given oxygen and put on a drip and taken to hospital where the wound was closed with four stitches.

Mr Crimp said Mr Bass had written a letter expressing his love for his wife and his desire to restore his relationship with her.

Bass, 36, admitted unlawfully wounding her husband on June 21 and was given a nine-month prison sentence suspended for 12 months and ordered to pay �500 costs.

She was also ordered to attend a Women’s Well Being scheme.

Sentencing her, Judge John Devaux said Bass had no previous convictions and there was no useful purpose in sending her to prison.

He said the attack wasn’t pre-planned and she felt genuine remorse for what she had done.

Earlier this year there had been issues in their marriage and as a result their relationship had been “up and down”.

On June 21 Mr Bass returned home at 8pm and had grabbed a can of lager out of his wife’s hand and told her to stop drinking, said Mr Crimp.

He later told police he had been angry and might have frightened his wife but the next thing he knew he had been stabbed in the chest.

Peter Barlitz for Bass said she had been living apart from her husband and family since the attack because of her bail conditions.

He said on June 21 a text message received during a barbeque had upset the couple and Mr Bass had received medical attention after injuring himself.

By the time he came home his wife had drunk six to eight cans of beer and during an argument in the kitchen he had damaged her hair straighteners and held a knife to his own throat, said Mr Barlitz.

It was at that stage Bass had picked up a knife and stabbed him.

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