A FORGIVING Newport husband saved his wife of 32 years from jail - despite the fact she almost killed him.

Raymond Pumford was stabbed in the back by wife Jennifer during a row, Cardiff crown court heard.

Mr Pumford suffered serious injuries and underwent a six-hour operation at the University of Wales Hospital, Cardiff, during which he received many litres of blood after the knife his wife used punctured his lung, the court heard.

Afterwards, he was in intensive care and on a ventilator.

But the defendant Pumford, 50, who gave her address in court as Manchester Street, Maindee, Newport, a woman of no previous convictions, was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment suspended for two years after admitting a charge of wounding - because of a plea for leniency from her husband.

Judge William Gaskell told her: "I'm not going to pass an immediate custodial sentence and you can thank your husband for that.

"You inflicted a grievous injury. He nearly died but he is prepared to forgive you.

"If he had not, you would be going down those steps to serve a prison sentence."

The judge said it was only through the skill of surgeons that Mr Pumford lived. The judge added: "It's very fortunate you're not standing in the dock on a murder or manslaughter charge."

Prosecutor Tim Evans said that on October 4, the defendant Pumford and her husband were drinking in the Black Horse pub and there was a row between them.

At their home in Collingwood Road, the argument flared up again and Mr Pumford was stabbed.

His wife called her son on a mobile phone saying: "What have I done? I think I've stabbed him. I love him."

The injured man himself called an ambulance from a telephone kiosk. Pumford's counsel Peter Hayward said her husband had written a testimonial to the court.

Mr Hayward said: "Mr Pumford said in a statement that she was 'a rock, always there'."

Mr Hayward told the court there was no physical violence but there were problems in the marriage.

Mr Hayward said: "She loves him deeply. There was provocation and she acted out of character. It is his abiding wish she does not go to prison."