A WOMAN has been jailed for stabbing a barmaid at a Colchester pub.

A court heard that Tracy Phelps did not realise she had been knifed during a row in the kitchen of the Forester's Arms.

She was trying to restrain Perrie-Anne Leversidge and had managed to get the knife from her.

However, when she looked down at her top, she saw "lots" of blood on it and realised what had happened, Chelmsford Crown Court was told.

Leversidge, 26, of Roman Road, Colchester, claimed she had acted in self defence and thought she had grabbed a kitchen roll holder to defend herself.

A jury at Chelmsford Crown Court convicted her on a charge of wounding Miss Phelps, but cleared her of wounding with intent, a charge she had denied.

Judge Christopher Ball QC jailed her for two years and three months.

"She could have been killed," Judge Ball told Leversidge, who did not give evidence in the trial.

The court heard how tension between the two women mounted after Miss Phelps had told pub manager Paul Sadler that Leversidge had visited a woman known as Sam the night before the stabbing.

At the time, Leversidge was in a relationship with Mr Sadler, the trial heard.

On August 28, the two women were in the kitchen of the Roman Road pub when an argument started, and Leversidge accused Miss Phelps of wanting to have an affair with Mr Sadler.

She denied this and told the court Leversidge picked up a knife and said she was going to kill her, but Miss Phelps said she managed to get the knife from her and throw it away.

Miss Phelps said: "It was at this point I realised I had got stabbed in the chest - I did not feel it."