A Bovey Tracey wife who stabbed her husband of 43 years in a motiveless attack has been freed to return home after he pleaded with a judge to show her mercy.

Carol Wilson stabbed her husband Peter in the chest as he lay in bed and slashed his arm as he struggled to pacify her.

She was freed from Exeter Crown Court after Mr Wilson wrote to the judge to say he has missed his wife during the five months she has been remanded in custody and wanted her home.

Their relationship will now be monitored by social workers under a care plan in which they will look out for danger signs and intervene if they fear another attack.

Wilson told psychiatrists she had little memory of the attack and no idea why she did it. There had been few tensions during the 43-year marriage and there was no obvious trigger.

She had recently been prescribed a tranquiliser for anxiety and depression by her GP, but there was no direct link between her mental health and the attack.

Wilson, aged 67, of Five Acres, Bovey Tracey, admitted causing actual bodily harm and was made subject of a two-and-a-half-year community order by Judge David Evans at Exeter Crown Court

He said a prison sentence was not appropriate because of the length of time Wilson has already spent in prison and that a community order would enable Wilson to undertake 30 days of rehabilitation activities with the probation service.

He told her: ‘It is difficult to know why you did this. You yourself have little or no recollection of the incident and what immediately preceded it. You yourself perhaps don’t understand why you did what you did.

‘Both you and your partner say you wish to resume the relationship in the marital home. He speaks about the great strain of being parted from you over the five months she has been in custody.

‘There are many mitigating features. You have no previous convictions, you have a positive good character and there is a mental health background.’

Miss Caroline Bolt, prosecuting, said Wilson and her husband had been cuddling in bed on the morning of November 20 last year when she got up.

She returned to the bedroom with a carving knife which she used to stab him in the side of his chest, causing a three-centimetre wound which did not penetrate the chest cavity.

He tried to disarm her and there was a struggle which ended in the kitchen where she picked up more knives and tried to stab him again.

He suffered a one-centimetre defence wound to his arm before he was able to pin her down and hold her until she calmed down. Wilson then sat down on a sofa with her head in her hands, and was still there when police arrived.

Mr David Sapiecha, defending, said a care plan has been put in place which will flag up any concerns and enable intervention if there is any danger of another attack. Alarms will also be fitted at the house.

He said: ‘The circumstances of this case are complex and perhaps unusual. It is plain that Mr Wilson very much wants to resume the relationship.’