A VIOLENT woman who inflicted a 'brutal and sustained' stabbing attack on a Port Glasgow couple in the back garden of their home at midnight has been spared prison at Greenock Sheriff Court.

Sandra McKillop, 46, whose claim of having acted in self defence was rejected by a jury, knifed a man and a woman at an address on Taransay Way – causing the female to suffer a collapsed lung.

McKillop - who was found guilty of the July 2022 double assault last month -continued to insist that she had only been trying to protect herself when she appeared for sentencing for the attack.

Defence solicitor Aidan Gallagher told the court: “Her position is that she had gone to retrieve a telephone that she had understood had come into the possession of one of those in the house.

“There had then been a verbal altercation that turned physical.

“The jury verdict reflects that they did not think she had taken the knife to the locus.

“They heard evidence that she herself was injured having been struck by one of the complainers with a piece of wood.”

Mr Gallagher asked Sheriff Sheena Fraser to consider an alternative to custody, noting McKillop has experienced a ‘difficult upbringing’ and ‘difficult relationships.

The lawyer added: “Violence has certainly been perpetrated upon her by others over the years.

“This has caused her a great amount of trauma.”

During the trial, the man McKillop attacked told jurors: “She stabbed me and nearly killed my partner.”

He said he had been in the living room when he heard ‘banging and shouting’ from outside the patio doors.

He went to the garden to tell her to ‘beat it’ and saw her with a ‘dark blade’ before being stabbed to the left side of his stomach.

The witness described seeing McKillop run over to his partner making a stabbing motion and then hearing screams.

In her evidence, the woman victim said that the incident happened ‘very fast’ and that she remembered ‘feeling the wetness of blood’.

The court also heard from a forensic scientist who said McKillop’s DNA was found on the handle of a knife discovered in the garden after the incident.

Sheriff Fraser acknowledged that McKillop had previously been placed under supervision before going on to commit these offences.

She said: “You were found guilty after trial of two charges of assault involving use of a weapon, one resulted in severe injury.

“The use of knives to inflict injury is something of which the court takes a very dim view.

“There’s an alternative disposal available to me.

“You should understand that it is a direct alternative to custody.”

McKillop, of the Inverclyde Centre, was ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work within 12 months.

Sheriff Fraser also placed her under supervision for a period of 30 months and made her subject to an alcohol treatment order.

In addition, McKillop will also have to adhere to a curfew for the next 12 months – during which time she will wear an electronic tag.