A 78-year-old man was slashed across the face by his wife of 53 years after she had drunk a large amount of gin.

Seventy-four-year-old Barbara Ellis told husband Roderic that she hated him before the savage knife attack in their home in Malvern Road, Ashford, a court heard.

He suffered a seven-inch wound to his face that needed 13 stitches.

The court was told that when police arrived the great-grandmother was cleaning his blood from the carpet.

But a judge departed from guidelines set down calling for an immediate jail sentence to be imposed.

Instead, he suspended a 12-month sentence for a year and ordered Ellis to attend an alcohol treatment programme.

The mother-of-three, who lives in Malvern Road, Ashford, admitted unlawful wounding.

Maidstone Crown Court heard that after she finished off a bottle of gin on March 4, she asked her husband to get her some more.

Jo Cope, prosecuting, said Mr Ellis did so and the couple then ate dinner. Mr Ellis was washing up when his wife told him she hated him.

As she hurled further abuse at him, she punched him in the ribs, head and cheek. She also broke a plastic washing-up bowl over his head.

“She was close to him, face to face,” said Mrs Cope. “He pushed her away. She fell against the sink, saying: 'Right, that’s it’.

“She took a knife from a drawer. He went to leave. She cut his right ear and cheek. Blood poured out of the wound.

“She told him to clean himself up. He told her he wasn’t cleaning up anything, he was going to hospital.”

Christopher Harding, defending, said Mr Ellis did not want to make a formal complaint to the police.

“He is here to support his wife, not his prosecution of her,” he said.

“They have been together for more than 50 years. For the most part, they have been happy years together."

Mr Harding said Ellis came before the court utterly ashamed and distraught that she had caused anxiety to her family.