A 30-year-old woman with an alcohol problem stabbed her partner with a kitchen knife at their Droitwich home after she had been out drinking and watching horse racing, a court heard.

Jenny Chalmers said she was hungry when she got back to the home she was sharing with Alan Barker in The Homestead, Droitwich, on March 16 this year, Worcester Crown Court was told.

She had been out drinking and watching racing from Cheltenham, Stuart Clarkson, prosecuting, told the court, and there was an argument when she got in. Mr Barker went to the kitchen to get her some food but she followed him and pushed him out of the way as he looked in the freezer.

He went into the living room and she followed him, hitting him on the head and body with her hands and with a TV remote control, Mr Clarkson said. She went back into the kitchen and returned with a knife, lifting it to head height and stabbing him in the upper left arm, causing a small cut. She tried to stab him in the other arm but did not cause an injury, Mr Clarkson said.

She pleaded guilty to one charge of wounding. The court heard Mr Barker said he hoped she would get help rather than punishment.

Clare Fear, defending, said Chalmers had been in custody for seven weeks because she had nowhere else to go and the time had allowed her to stop drinking.

The "unhealthy" six year relationship with Mr Barker had previously featured aggression and violence and had now come to an end, Miss Fear said.

Chalmers, who had started drinking at the age of 14, realised she had a problem she wanted to tackle. She now intended to move to Scotland to live with her mother.

Judge Nicolas Cartwright warned that "lashing out" at someone with a knife could have more serious consequences than was the case for Mr Barker, who suffered a small cut.

He gave Chalmers a sentence of 12 months suspended for two years and said she was suitable for a stay at a rehabilitation centre in Shropshire, which he praised highly.

"If you ever end up in trouble again it will be entirely your fault because if you embrace what is offered you will turn your life around," he told Chalmers.

She will spend seven weeks there and also undergo a 30 day rehabilitation programme to include thinking skills.

She was also given a restraining order banning her from contacting Mr Barker or going within 100 metres of where he is living for five years.