A WOMAN who killed her abusive partner with a single stab wound to the heart has been jailed for three years.

Helen Plews, 42, stabbed Brian McDonald, 40, during a party at her flat in Ashburnham Road, Southend, on October 3 last year.

The court heard Plews had suffered years of violence at the hands of Mr McDonald, with whom she had a “turbulent” relationship while living in Grays.

Prosecuting, Stephen Harvey QC described how the couple began fighting after Mr McDonald returned from a nightclub.

Mr McDonald grabbed Plews by the throat and repeatedly hit her head against cupboards in front of shocked guests Paul Sumner and Ross Palmer-Wolfe.

He said: “Ross Palmer-Wolfe says he saw the defendant being held by the neck and Brian hitting her head against the cupboard.

“She broke free and it was then that he says she grabbed the knife, raising it above her head with the apparent intention of stabbing Brian McDonald.”

Mr Harvey described how Mr Palmer-Wolfe tried to restrain Plews, and told her to put the knife down before Mr McDonald approached her again.

Mr Harvey said: “Brian McDonald then said ‘go on, do it’ and told Ross to let Helen go.

“He let her go, and with that her hand flew forward, with the knife penetrating his heart.”

At an earlier hearing, the mother-of-three had admitted the manslaughter of Mr McDonald.

The prosecution accepted her plea on the grounds of diminished responsibility – the court was told Plews had also suffered 19 years of abuse from her former husband.

Sentencing at Chelmsford Crown Court, Judge Christopher Ball QC said: “It is absolutely plain, beyond question, part of your turbulent relationship involved him being violent and abusive towards you repeatedly.

“It was accepted, however, because you had been conditioned by your previous life, that you were prepared to put up with it.”

Judge Ball added he had to send Plews to prison, because to do otherwise would be an endorsement for people in abusive relationships to feel using a knife could be justified.