A woman who repeatedly stabbed her mother for telling her she wished she had never been born has not been sent to prison because the judge said it was an “exceptional” case.

Susan Ayrey, whose mother Elaine – who lives in the Keighley area – put her into care when she was a child, wept in court when a letter was read out calling her “a loving and caring daughter”.

Mrs Ayrey, 49, wrote to Bradford Crown Court saying she did not want her to go to prison.

Ayrey, 22, of Lindholme Gardens, Allerton, Bradford, pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to wounding Mrs Ayrey with intent to cause her grievous bodily harm on May 27.

The offence would normally attract a jail sentence measured in years, but Judge John Potter said last Thursday the circumstances were exceptional.

Ayrey seized a kitchen knife and stabbed her mother up to four times after both women had been drinking into the early hours.

Mrs Ayrey was wounded to her chest and back and suffered a punctured lung requiring emergency surgery.

Prosecutor Ken Green said mother and daughter argued at a gathering for family and friends at Ayrey’s home.

Mrs Ayrey told her daughter she regretted giving birth to her and was not sorry she had her taken into care.

When Ayrey grabbed the knife, Mrs Ayrey called her bluff, saying: “Go on then!”

Mrs Ayrey had made a full recovery and declined to make a victim impact statement.

Judge Potter sentenced Ayrey to two years’ imprisonment, suspended for two years, with supervision and a high-level activity requirement with the probation service. She must live in supervised accommodation for three months.

The judge told Ayrey she had shown immediate remorse and pleaded guilty at the first opportunity. It was a spur-of-the-moment offence and she was provoked.

The women had a violent relationship, with Ayrey treated in hospital for a head injury caused by her mother in February 2010.

Ayrey fought back tears in the dock as Judge Potter read out parts of the letter from her mother, stating: “I do not have any bitterness towards my daughter. I love my daughter and I always will.”