A SPURNED woman threatened to stab a couple with a potato peeler.

Ann Porritt lost her temper when her advances were turned down by Chaz Coulston in Brighton.

She had tried to get Mr Coulston to leave his partner Charlie Coyle.

When that didn’t work, Porritt brandished a potato peeler and assaulted the couple at Percival Terrace.

In a separate incident she assaulted a police officer with a needle.

She had been listed as a missing person in Worthing. But when she was spotted there and approached by police, Porritt screamed: “I have got a needle, and I will use it.”

The 24-year-old was spared a prison sentence after admitting her offences at Hove Crown Court.

Stuart Dingle, prosecuting, said police had found her in Worthing in January this year.

An officer, referred to only as PC Hudson, was pricked in the thumb with the needle during a struggle with drug user Porritt.

The officer has had to undergo the stress of hospital tests and is still awaiting an all clear for infections such as hepatitis and HIV.

Then in March this year Porritt had got to know her neighbours at Percival Terrace.

Mr Dingle said: “Ann Porritt had become enamoured with Mr Coulston and desired a relationship.

“She urged him to leave Ms Coyle, but when he refused she said that when she returned to Brighton she would stab both of them.

“Porritt found the two victims and as they tried to walk away to call the police, she produced a potato peeler.”

Kevin Light, defending, said Porritt, formerly of Percival Terrace, had a troubled background and had previously been sectioned under the Mental Health Act in the past.

He said her wielding of the potato peeler was not charged as possession of a bladed article, therefore it would be unfair to activate a minimum six-month prison sentence set out in knife laws for a second offence.

Mr Light said Porritt had struggled with crack cocaine and heroin when she ended up in temporary accommodation, and said she had been the victim of a sexual assault there.

Judge Jeremy Gold QC delayed sentencing to allow Porritt to find a new home after a detailed pre-sentence report by the probation service.

He said: “It’s not the most lethal looking potato peeler. You are going to have to learn to control your temper, otherwise you will find yourself in custody time and time again.

“You need to take advantage of this opportunity.

“It might be the only time in your life that these arrangements are in place to help you.”

Porritt admitted assaulting an emergency worker, obstructing a PC, two common assaults, and possession of an offensive weapon.

Judge Gold said it would be “unjust” to impose the six-month sentence designed for those who are caught in possession of a knife in public.

He imposed a four-month suspended prison sentence for each of her crimes, to run concurrently. Porritt was ordered to complete 35 rehabilitation sessions.