Joylene Cunningham, 30, slashed her partner's face from mouth to ear

A woman who slashed her boyfriend's face from his mouth to his ear after she saw him kissing and cuddling another woman has been jailed.

Joylene Cunningham's boyfriend Sean Harman, was left needing 18 stitches following the attack in York in June 2015.

York Crown Court heard Cunningham, 30, was thought to have used a Stanley knife or razor blade to carry out the attack.

Cunningham had claimed she thought the slash was caused from a ring or a glass he was holding.

But when her ring was examined by Recorder of York, Judge Paul Batty QC, it was found to be blunt.

Jailing Cunningham for two and a half years, Judge Batty said: 'The wound had been a deep laceration in places, running virtually from Mr Harman's mouth to his ear and causing a permanent scar.'

But addressing the court, Mr Harman defended his ex-girlfriend, claiming he had provoked the attack and been 'disgusting and horrible' to her.

Cunningham, from York, said that when she got to the river, she saw him with another girl, kissing and cuddling.

'I felt pretty upset - I just stormed over and hit him,' she told the court.

She said she punched him but denied having a blade in her hand, and said the wound must have been caused by a ring on her finger, or the glass he was holding.

Mr Harman defended Cunningham, saying he had been 'winding her up' prior to the incident.

He told the court that he had wrongly believed she had been the one having an affair.

Speaking about his vengeful behaviour, he said: 'I was disgusting - I was horrible. I was awful.

'I was angry with her - I thought she had been cheating on me in my own bed. I wanted revenge on her. I wanted her to be sent down.'

Mr Harman also said he had been violent towards Cunningham previously.

Cunningham was jailed for two and a half years at York Crown court (pictured), following the assault in 2015

He said she had hit him with her fist but said the cut must have been caused by a ring on her finger or a glass he was holding.

However Judge Batty who examined the ring said it was not sharp and he did not believe the pair's claims.

Kevin Blount, mitigating, said: 'She [Cunningham] has no previous conviction for violence, it had been an isolated incident, there was nothing to suggest pre-meditation and there was 'some degree of remorse.'