Alex Glanfield-Collis stabbed her boyfriend to death after was abusive to her and told her to become a prostitute. She has been cleared of murder but jailed for manslaughter

A woman who stabbed her abusive boyfriend to death has been jailed for just seven years after she was cleared of murder and convicted of manslaughter by loss of control.

Alex Glanfield-Collis had faced a murder charge after she plunged a hunting knife into John Maclean's neck at their Docklands flat in east London on 12 April last year.

But the 27-year-old was cleared of murder at the Old Bailey following a retrial, after a previous jury could not agree verdicts.

The court heard Glanfield-Collis had previously complained about Maclean's 'domineering and controlling' behaviour on a WhatsApp group chat of women called 'The C**t Club'.

The jury were also played a series of WhatsApp voice messages of Maclean screaming vile abuse at Glanfield-Collis over minor things like not answering her phone.

She stabbed Maclean to death after he waved a hunting knife at her in their home. She then wandered out onto the communal balcony, lit up a cannabis joint and smoked it with a beer.

Judge Richard Marks QC said Maclean was 'an extremely difficult individual' who 'never worked and evidently had an inflated sense of his own importance'.

He and Glanfield-Collis met when she was around 18 and she became pregnant after three miscarriages within the space of just nine months.

The court heard horrific recordings of John Maclean shouting abuse at Glanfield-Collis. His mother said he 'was not perfect but did not deserve to be killed'

Glanfield-Collis, 'an intelligent and articulate' woman, had been forced to give up a good job when her employers moved offices and the commute became too long, the court heard.

As a result, her and Maclean were under the same roof all day, leaving her 'even more at his beck and call' than she had been already.

The pair also smoked 'ridiculously large amounts of cannabis' the court heard.

A few weeks before the killing, Maclean proposed they have a threesome and insisted Glanfield-Collis call him a different name during sex.

He also began to 'exert pressure' on her neck and suggested she become involved in prostitution, the court heard.

Maclean dictated what should go on her online escorting profile and accompanied her when two such 'encounters' took place.

Jurors heard Glanfield-Collis was part of a WhatsApp group called 'The C**t Club'.

'It was an all-women group who shared anecdotes, thoughts and jokes - mostly about men,' Ms Wilding said.

The fatal attack unfolded at the couple's flat on the Isle of Dogs last April

In one message the women joked about one member of the group once tying her husband to a chair and Glanfield-Collis jested about whether it was to kill him or have sex with him.

Glanfield-Collis added: 'Well you never know with the c***s we have chosen to have kids with'.

Glanfield-Collis said John's previous long-term relationship would overshadow their own and he would point out that this woman had a child without any problems whereas she could not.

Such was her 'anger and resentment' at his 'controlling and coercive behaviour', Judge Marks said he had no doubt Glanfield-Collis intended to kill him when she plunged the 19.5cm knife into his neck as he slept following another row.

But 'while John Maclean was undoubtedly demanding, self-centred, domineering and controlling,' he said he was satisfied there had been 'an element of exaggeration' in her account of his behaviour towards her and how he made her feel.

In a victim impact statement, Mr Maclean's mother Allison Whitton said he 'was not perfect but did not deserve to be killed'.

She said hers and her family's 'hearts were broken and ripped apart' by the killing.

'My child had been slaughtered while he slept with no chance of defending himself,' Ms Whitton said.

Glanfield-Collis, from the Isle of Dogs, was jailed for seven years.