A BRANDY-fuelled Greenock woman attacked her partner with a knife in a 4am fury - because he was too tired to stay up boozing with her.

Ellen McLaughlin, 61, grabbed a three-inch boning blade from their kitchen drawer and 'lunged' at his head as he lay in bed.

But her 54-year-old partner was still awake and saw it 'glint'.

He reached up and grabbed it as she thrust it downwards, a trial heard.

First offender McLaughlin sat sobbing in the dock of the town's sheriff court as the man tried to distance himself from a statement he gave to police a few hours after the attack.

He said he 'vaguely' remembered telling an A&E doctor that he'd been cut with a knife and said he couldn't recall if he told the medic who'd cut him.

But asked by prosecutor Pamela Brady how he'd come about cuts to his right pinkie and between his thumb and forefinger, he replied: "Ellen."

The Lyle Street couple, who'd been together for around a year at the time of the attack on April 7, had drank a litre of brandy between them.

McLaughlin's partner said he went to bed at around 4am because he was tired and she 'wasn't very happy' about that.

He told the court: "She tried to get me out of bed again.

"Name calling and saying I was an 'alky' so-and-so.

"I retaliated with verbals.

"A quarter-of-an-hour later the door opened and Ellen was standing in the doorway with a knife."

He told a detective that McLaughlin had attacked him with the knife, which he'd managed to take from her and throw under the bed.

The man had earlier reported to a 999 emergency call handler that he'd been stabbed by her.

But under cross examination by defence lawyer Gerry Keenan he said he was 'extremely drunk' and agreed that 'perceptions can be skewed' when intoxicated.

Mr Keenan asked: "Is it possible she appeared at the door and you have ran at her, disarmed her and cut yourself in the process?"

Mr Adams said: "It's possible."

However, a uniformed police officer who was first on the scene at 4.50am said that the man had a drink in him but was not as drunk as McLaughlin.

The PC described her as being 'intoxicated', 'detached' and 'vacant'.

"I took Ellen into the kitchen and before I even asked her more details than her name she started getting upset and said words to the effect of, 'We had a big argument tonight — I've taken it too far this time'.

"I immediately cautioned her at that point."

The officer told the court: "There was blood all over the bedsheets, quite a considerable amount of blood actually."

Sheriff Daniel Kelly found McLaughlin guilty of striking her partner with a blade to his injury.

The sheriff told her: "I take the view that your partner's evidence to the police was that he'd been assaulted and I did not believe him stepping away from that position today."

Sheriff Kelly deferred sentence on McLaughlin until December 4 for her to be of good behaviour.

He said: "I may defer for a further period as this is a serious offence, so in my view because of the severity of the offence the court needs to keep an eye on the situation."