A WOMAN who made threats to a man that she would kill his daughter has avoided going behind bars.

Chantelle Radford issued the threats in two separate incidents on the same day at the victim’s home in Christchurch.

The first saw her open the front door of the property with a bottle of wine in one hand.

She said to the victim “I am going to ******* kill her” before being led out of the home.

However, later that evening she returned to the address and was spotted by the victim with a knife and trying to open the garden gate.

Radford, aged 30, made similar threats again, to which the father replied “no you are not” before telling her to go away.

The defendant ended up on the floor in a bush after being pushed by the victim. She got to her feet, tried to open the gate again and asked for her knife back having dropped it.

Radford was pushed again and fell into a bush once more. She remained there until police arrived and she was arrested.

Prosecuting, Richard Martin told Bournemouth Crown Court Radford was armed with a bread knife which has a serrated blade around eight inches in length in the second incident, which took place around an hour after the first on February 26.

“When he (the victim) saw the knife it angered him,” Mr Martin said. “He says he remembers telling her that he would kill her.”

Mr Martin said this was described as “simply a response to her saying that she would kill his daughter”.

Radford, who had five previous convictions for 13 offences, pleaded guilty to two counts of threats to kill and possession of a knife in a public place, as well as two counts of criminal damage relating to damage of a police van and a police cell in Lincolnshire in March.

Ed Wylde, mitigating, said the defendant was “extremely distressed and frankly horrified by what she has done” and she was "absolutely willing" to engage with probation.

He told the court his client had been diagnosed with emotionally unstable personality disorder.

“Her relationship with alcohol until recently was one of abuse. She desperately needs help and support to manage it,” Mr Wylde said.

The court heard since the threats to kill incidents Radford had relocated to the New Forest, which allowed her to be closer to her family support network.

Mr Wylde said now was a “pivotal opportunity to break some sort of cycle”.

“To rob her of that opportunity would not be proper or appropriate,” the barrister said.

Judge William Mousley QC said he had weighed up the realistic prospect of rehabilitation, the defendant’s personal mitigation and impact custody would have on her children against the risk she posed to the public and whether or not the offences were so serious they could only be marked by immediate imprisonment.

He concluded that the sentence was one that could be suspended.

The judge said the offender was "clearly unwell" at the time of the offences although her alcohol consumption had made matters worse.

Radford, of Howards Mead, Pennington, was sentenced to 15 months' imprisonment, suspended for two years, along with a two-year restraining order.

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