A WOMAN who stabbed her partner in the thigh in a drunken attack was found by police sitting on his living room sofa despite him having a restraining order against her.

Burnley Crown Court heard how that discovery put Lisa Jane Chadwick in breach of a two-year suspended sentence she was given in May 2016 for stabbing Thomas Rogers with a kitchen knife.

The court heard how Chadwick had ‘snapped’ and inflicted the injury on Mr Rogers after they had broken up three months earlier. 

Chadwick, 30, was given the restraining order by Judge Jonathan Gibson in November 2016 after she committed criminal damage by smashing a window at Mr Rogers’ house in Colbran Street, Burnley.

Prosecuting, Martineh Jabari told the court that the terms of that order meant that Chadwick, of Leyland Road, Burnley, could not enter Colbran Street.

At 2pm on November 8, with just four days remaining on the restraining order, police went around to Mr Rogers’ house and found Chadwick in the living room.

Ms Jabari said when asked to identify herself Chadwick initially gave false details to the police but then broke down in tears and told police her real name.

Ms Jabari said: “She said she was only in the premises to visit her friend who happened to be living with Mr Rogers at the time. She denied being in a relationship with him.”

But the court heard as officers led Chadwick out of the house they passed Mr Rogers at the front of the property and the defendant’s demeanour changed.

Mr Rogers told police he was back in a relationship with Chadwick and was seeking advice from solicitors about having the restraining order revoked.

Chadwick pleaded guilty to breaching a restraining order and committing a further offence during the operational period of a suspended prison sentence.

Defending, Richard Orme said his client had acted ‘foolishly’ in accepting her friend’s invitation to to have a brew when she knew the restraining order was still in place.

Mr Orme added: “By that foolish act she has breached the restraining order. It is right to observe the relationship with Mr Rogers was continuing and that relationship continues to thrive.”

Judge Beverley Lunt decided not to activate the suspended sentence but warned Chadwick she would not be given another chance if she wound herself before the courts again.

Judge Lunt said: “You shouldn’t have been in the house on that day. In another two weeks it wouldn’t have mattered. It is worrying that you knew you had a restraining order against you and a suspended sentence, worse more, but you risked going for prison for two years instead of waiting two weeks.”

Chadwick was given a six-month conditional discharge and a £20 fine, which she must pay within 90 days or face seven days in prison.