A spurned woman set fire to her ex-fianc's home and then drove to his office, where she stabbed him with a bread knife.

Andrea McLean, 30, flipped when partner Simon Mitchell ended their relationship.

She doused white spirit behind the TV, on the sofa and in the main bedroom before setting it alight.

As fire crews raced to the semi-detached house in MacLeod Road, Horsham, McLean was making her way to Mr Mitchell's office in nearby Foundry Lane.

She asked to speak to him in private. She pulled out a 7in knife and slashed at his arm then threatened to kill him.

Marcus Fletcher, prosecuting, said: "He screamed out in pain, heard by a number of colleagues. As she walked past she said, 'I am going to kill you'."

McLean then drove to her sister's house in Burgess Hill, where she confessed.

Her sister called police, who arrested her.

But McLean was spared jail yesterday after a court heard Mr Mitchell, who is father to one of her two children, begged police: "Don't send her to prison."

Judge Anthony Niblett, at Lewes Crown Court sitting at Brighton Magistrates Court, said: "Sometimes in relationships sad things happen."

At an earlier hearing, a court was told how after the couple split Mr Mitchell let McLean stay at his house with her children while he moved out. But she could not cope and moved back to her family home. He agreed to move back in.

The following day, shortly after 3pm on January 27, West Sussex Fire Brigade received a 999 call saying there was smoke coming from the house, as McLean, of Lanark Close, Horsham, drove away. She admitted charges of arson and unlawful wounding.

James Mason, defending, referred to a statement given to police by Mr Mitchell in which he states he feels bewildered and shocked but not angry.

He stated: "I do not want her to go to prison."

Judge Niblett sentenced her to a three-year community rehabilitation order with the condition she complies with treatment as directed by a consultant psychiatrist.