A WOMAN suffered a serious hand injury as she tackled a Kates Hill man holding a knife to her boyfriend’s throat.

Wolverhampton Crown Court was told attacker Ian Hadley, who was on crutches at the time of the incident and is now in a wheelchair, injured the woman’s thumb as she tried to disarm him.

Simon Phillips, prosecuting, said she sustained a severed nerve in the thumb and had to undergo surgery but there was the long term prospect she would lose all sensation.

He said the woman was with her boyfriend and he was the son of a woman who had been in a relationship with 45-year-old Hadley.

Mr Phillips added there was a lot of bitterness between the parties and Hadley beckoned over the couple when he spotted them talking in the street.

He then held the "substantial" knife to the throat of the young man and the girl tried to intervene by grabbing the weapon but the blade sliced across her thumb.

Mr Phillips told the hearing the woman’s boyfriend then grabbed the blade with both hands and he suffered less serious injuries.

After his arrest Hadley told police officers he had the knife because he feared he was going to be attacked and he held up the weapon to protect himself.

Hadley of Oliver Close, told cops: "I am an idiot, it all happened in the heat of the moment."

Hadley admitted two charges of assault causing actual bodily harm and he was told by Judge John Wait the only reason he was not going straight to prison was because of his disability.

The judge said Hadley had previous convictions resulting from his loss of self control. He told Hadley: "On this night you lost your self control once again - no doubt because you had been drinking heavily.

"You armed yourself with a knife and you used it. While I do have some sympathy for your physical disability I have none at all for your conduct that night."

Hadley was given a 14 month jail term suspended for 18 months, placed on supervision for 18 months and ordered to obey a seven month curfew order between the hours of 7pm and 6am.

He was further told he must pay £500 costs and made the subject of a restraining order forbidding him from having any contact with all parties in the case for the next two years.