Telford woman stabbed man who said she was 'fit'

Marie Dawn Watton took "great exception" to the comments made by Jonathan Barras in the Duke of York pub in Trench, Telford, and a brawl broke out, Shrewsbury Crown Court heard.

Watton, 25, of Trench Road, Trench, left the pub to get a knife from a friend's house and stabbed Mr Barras while he was on the way to another pub, the Dun Cow.

Mr Adam Warner, prosecuting, said the single stab wound in January this year cut through Mr Barras's liver, kidney and small bowel, and also caused a collapsed lung. He needed emergency four-hour surgery to save his life.

Mr Warner said there was a "significant degree of premeditation" in the offence.

He told the court: "There was a remark made to her by Mr Barras to which she took great exception.

"The CCTV shows her moving towards him at the bar in an extremely aggressive way, and it looks in all the world that she has in fact headbutted him.

"She did not, but fighting broke out and she took an active part.

"Mr Barras punched Matty Warrender, a friend of Watton's, hard on the nose and there was blood everywhere. Marie Watton saw that and immediately said 'he is having it now'."

The court heard Watton raced out of the pub and over to the road to her best friend Susan Davies's house, where she "rummaged through the kitchen drawers and quickly left with something".

She caught up with Mr Barras and a friend as they walked to the Dun Cow and stabbed him in the stomach, Mr Warner said.

The prosecutor told the court the weapon was never found by police – but a bloodstained black leather jacket found in Watton's loft by police was the same as one she was wearing on the night of the attack.

Watton was warned she faced a "double-figure" jail sentence by Judge Robin Onions after pleading guilty to wounding with intent at court yesterday.

She was remanded in custody as the case was adjourned for reports to be carried out, and will be sentenced at Shrewsbury in the week beginning January 6.