A WOMAN stabbed her boyfriend in the chest with a 20in knife during a drug-fuelled argument, a court heard.

Gemma Higginson plunged the blade into William White after he had challenged her about her drug taking in the home they shared on Hawksley Street in Horwich.

At Bolton Crown Court, Hunter Gray, prosecuting, said Mr White and Higginson, 34, had been in a relationship for several years and had a child.

Frequent calls had been made to the police throughout this period and in March this year Higginson had been taken into custody after Mr White alleged she had poured boiling water on his leg.

The complaint was withdrawn but on her release, Higginson, who appeared via video link from HMP Styal, returned to the property where another man, Wayne Still was also living.

Mr Still and Higginson began using crack cocaine together with Mr White describing them as "high as kites".

Mr Gray said that on the morning of May 27, Mr White woke up in his living room at around 6am to find that the pair had both been up all night drinking and taking drugs.

He accused Higginson of taking advantage of Mr Still and using his money to buy herself drugs.

A row began and Mr White heard her going into the kitchen and getting something from the cutlery drawer.

He followed her into the kitchen and saw she was brandishing a large knife with a serrated edge and two prongs which she raised before stabbing him in the chest.

Mr White was left with two puncture wounds and Mr Still immediately called 999 with a transcript of the call recording how he thought the stab victim was going to die.

Higginson could be heard saying she was "pushed into it" and Mr White had been bullying her and that he had only suffered "a little gash" that didn't need an ambulance attending.

She also tried to stop Mr White going outside in case he was spotted by someone.

Officers attended the address and arrested Higginson with Mr White taken to hospital where he was found to have two wounds to his chest half an inch deep that were cleaned and glued before he was discharged.

Higginson told officers she had been upstairs the whole time at that another man had attacked Mr White.

In a victim impact statement, Mr White said he had suffered from anxiety and depression since the incident.

"I don't know what she is capable of," he added.

Mr Gray added that Higginson, of Brazley Avenue, Horwich, had eight previous convictions for 18 offences.

David Polglase, defending, said his client, who pleaded guilty to causing actual bodily harm, was "keen to apologise" to the court.

He added: "This situation has really been an eye opener into the state she has got herself into."

Sentencing Higginson to 12 months in jail, Judge Timothy Stead said she would now be released from custody as she had already served over six months.

He also made her the subject of a restraining order preventing her from contacting Mr White for five years.

Judge Stead added: "This was a very dangerous thing to do and you are lucky, as is Mr White, that the injuries were not serious."