A MUM who stabbed her own daughter four times with a kitchen knife after injecting her with drugs has walked free from court.

Judge Justice John Kay put the woman on probation for three years, arguing she needed help, not punishment.

The court heard the woman was depressed by the failure of her marriage and took an overdose - but decided she didn't want her five-year-old child to "be without a mummy".

So she injected the youngster with three times the normal dose of Diamorphine and stabbed her four times, once very close to the heart.

At last Monday's hearing at Chester Crown Court the media were banned from naming the woman in a bid to protect her child.

Robin Spencer, prosecuting, said the defendant's husband was having an affair, and last October the woman went to a parents' evening where knowledge of his infidelity was "commonplace".

She later took paracetamol and Tamazepam tablets in an attempt to end her life, before stabbing her child.

The next morning the defendant rang a medical colleague and the emergency services rushed to the scene.

The tot was found naked, screaming and shouting that she wanted her mummy.

"Yes she did it. But she still loves me," the girl told an ambulance man.

Three weeks later the woman was well enough to be interviewed and said: "I remember thinking I was going to die. I did not want her to be without her mummy. But I did not want her to die.

"Something happened. I felt I had been taken to the doors of hell and asked to look in. Something stopped me. I think it was love that stopped me."

John McDermott, defending, stressed: "Clearly the view of all concerned is that the relationship between mother and daughter should be nurtured as best it can."

The Judge said it was significant that during the incident the girl was crying for her mother. He said she needed her mum - and prison would harm the relationship.

He added: "You are by nature a very good mother, the actions on the night were foreign to your character. Your motivation was a misconceived attempt not to leave your child motherless.

"You were mentally ill at the time, suffering from severe depression. The breakdown of your marriage was the straw that broke the camel's back."

The child made a full recovery and was back at school within five days.

The defendant admitted administering Diamorphine with intent to injure and a wounding charge.

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