POLICE were forced to use a taser on a 79 year-old woman who stabbed her husband 17 times, a court heard.

But Florence Thomson of Sturton Way, Long Sutton, will not be going back to jail (she had spent five months on remand) after Lincoln Crown Court heard she had found it difficult to cope with her husband’s Alzheimer’s Disease.

Thomson admitted wounding with intent to cause previous bodily harm and was given a community order and a restraining order which means she can now only visit her husband with supervision.

“I love my husband, I love him to bits,” she said. “I lost it and just flipped my lid.”

Police called to the family home heard how Thomson grabbed a carving knife and was seen to repeatedly stab her husband leaving him in a pool of blood.

Originally she was charged with attempted murder but she denied this and the CPS decided not to pursue it.

Judge Michael Heath spoke of the couple being “devoted to each other” through 40 years of marriage and said coping with dementia was not to be underestimated.

Police officers told the court that had they not used a taser the possibility remained that Mr Thomson could have died from the onslaught.

Mr Thomson has since been moved to a care home.