A LOVE triangle which ended with one of the parties being stabbed with a butter knife is now finally over, a court heard.

Michelle Cunningham had been involved in on-off relationships with long-term partner Philip Simpson and his rival Andrew Hamilton, Burnley Crown Court was told.

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Ms Cunningham started an affair with Mr Hamilton after Simpson began a prison sentence for beating her up and attempting to smother her with a duvet in 2011, the court heard.

But Emma Kehoe, prosecuting, said that she was involved with both men in turn on a number of occasions subsequently, before ending up with Simpson in August last year.

An argument developed after Simpson overheard a conversation between Ms Cunningham and Mr Hamilton, over the return of a bike he still had of hers.

Simpson insisted she was being ‘flirty’ with the other man and grabbed a butter knife, in the kitchen, and threatened to ‘shove it up her a***’, the court heard.

In a scuffle between the pair, Ms Cunnigham received at least two minor cuts, to her finger and body, said Miss Kehoe.

She didn’t make a complaint to the police but went to retrieve her bike the next day. Simpson followed her to Mr Hamilton’s and the police were called after an altercation developed between the trio.

Jonathan Dickinson, for Simpson, said his client accepted that the relationship was now over. He knew she had relocated to the Leeds area and had no intentions of seeing her again.

He said: “This was a long relationship – the pair had been together for 17 years and it was characterised by excessive alcohol consumption, and occasionally coming together in scuffles and violence.”

Simpson, 57, of Parliament Street, Burnley, admitted to assaulting Ms Cunningham and was given a 12-month community order, with 12 months probation supervision.

He must attend a relationships course, as part of his sentence, and was issued with a restraining order, preventing any contact with Ms Cunningham, for two years.

Passing sentence, Judge Beverley Lunt said: “It is a very bizarre set of circumstances. Let’s see if this relationships course works.”