Woman stabbed boyfriend in neck with scissors after he ended relationship

A woman who stabbed her boyfriend in the neck after he called her “mental” and told her the relationship was over has been jailed for four years.

Miranda Malloy began “crying her eyes out” after the man broke the news to her before launching the assault on him as he was leaving an address in Edinburgh.

Malloy, 32, wounded the man with a pair of scissors or a similar weapon in the surprise attack, which left the victim bleeding before he made his way to his mother’s home, and she made a 999 call, the High Court in Edinburgh heard.

Malloy admitted assaulting the victim to the danger of his life on April 26 last year at a flat in the city by striking him with a weapon on the neck.

The court heard that she has ten previous convictions for assault and was previously jailed for eight months for repeatedly stabbing the same victim on the legs and chest.

A judge told her that she has a considerable criminal record and her offending was persistent, but that she has shown insight into her behaviour and its consequences and has expressed remorse.

She added that she was assessed as presenting a very high risk of offending and causing further harm.

Lady Haldane told her that she would have faced a six-year jail term if she had been convicted of her latest offence after a trial, but that would be reduced following her guilty plea.

The judge ordered that she should be under supervision for a further two years in the community, after her four-year sentence, and she can be returned to prison if she breaches licence conditions.

Advocate depute David Dickson KC earlier told the court that Malloy and the victim were previously in a five-month relationship which ended in January 2024, but was rekindled shortly before her latest attack on him.

The prosecutor said he went to the flat to tell her he was finishing that relationship.

He said: “[The victim] told Ms Malloy he was ending their relationship. She refused to accept this and started ‘crying her eyes out’ and asking him not to leave.”

“[The victim] told her she was ‘f****g mental’ and she was shouting at him, ‘you don’t love me’,” he said.

The prosecutor said the man walked down to the hall to leave the address, but turned to face Malloy and immediately felt what he thought was a punch to the left side of his jaw.

“He said she aimed for his face, but he had moved, and it connected with his jaw,” said Mr Dickson.

He said Malloy became hysterical and apologised to the victim, who left the flat for his mother’s home. On the way, he noticed blood on his neck and tried to stem the flow with his top.

His mother heard her son banging on her front door and shouting: “Help I’ve been stabbed.”

She opened the door and found her son holding the left side of his neck with blood on his hands and clothes.

The victim was taken to hospital but later discharged himself.