A woman who carried out a frenzied knife attack has been caged.

Marion Porter, who lived with her son in Irvine, targeted another woman at a flat in Ardrossan's Winton Street.

She attacked her after pulling a knife on her and raining blows on her body with the knife, grabbing her by the hair and threatening her with violence.

She also behaved in a threatening or abusive way by setting fire to a chair in the close and pushing a bag containing paint through the letter box of one of the flats.

Porter, 58, denied the September 19, 2017 offences but was convicted by a jury after a trial at Kilmarnock Sheriff Court.

Sentence was deferred for background reports to be prepared and Porter returned to the dock this week to learn her fate.

Defence solicitor Peter Murray said Porter received benefits, getting extra money due to her mental health problems.

He said she had “very little recollection” of what had happened on the night in question because she was so drunk at the time of the attack.

He added: “Her medication was being changed and she was drinking very heavily that night – she had consumed three bottles of fortified wine.

“It doesn’t excuse what happened but, perhaps, explains what happened.

“Her judgement was clouded.

“There are other options [other than custody] and she may benefit from a period of supervision.”

But Sheriff Shirley Foran ruled there was only one way she could deal with Porter, caging her for two years for her crimes and slamming her for her conduct.

She said it was “a wild assault” and added: “I had the benefit of hearing the full events of this night.

“You attended with a knife while you were very drunk and caused significant injury to the complainer.

“You show absolutely no insight into your offending of the significant effect of your consumption of alcohol.

“I am left with only one option – and that is a custodial sentence.

“You seem unwilling to accept the very specific effect of your consumption of alcohol on your offending which causes me to be of the view that this kind of thing could easily happen again.”