A WOMAN facing life behind bars for the murder of a Swindon mum-of-eight today began a Court of Appeal challenge to her conviction.

Charice Gassmann, 21, stabbed Alison Connolly to death in the communal area of a block of flats at Evelyn House, Park North, in May 2015.

It followed a disagreement over a moped belonging to the 49-year-old victim's daughter's boyfriend at a shop in Cavendish Square.

Gassmann, of Horsham Road, was convicted of murder and her sister, Amberstasia, 25, jailed for manslaughter at Bristol Crown Court in December 2015.

At the Court of Appeal in London today, lawyers for Charice argued that her murder conviction was unsafe and should be replaced with manslaughter.

Adam Vaitilingam QC said Gassmann had denied murder on the basis that she had been provoked by an attack by Mrs Connolly in a shop and lost her self-control.

Going about her business lawfully in the shop, she had been "headbutted" by Mrs Connolly and left covered in blood, he told three judges.

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Charice and Amberstasia Gassmann Pictures: Wiltshire Police

However, he said her reaction to the "provocation" may have been heightened by a "significant" mental disorder.

Due to difficult previous life experiences, Gassmann had been struggling with an emotionally unstable personality disorder (EUPD), he said.

It meant she had great difficulty regulating her emotions, and her actions should have been assessed in light of that.

However, the jury had been specifically directed by the trial judge not to take it into account, he said.

"The jury were instructed to exclude from the circumstances anything to do with her personality disorder," he told the judges.

She had been in "distress" at the time and, only a day before the incident in the shop, events had occurred in her life which exacerbated her issues.

"Prior to receiving any provocation, she was in a high level of distress, far greater than somebody who didn't have her personality disorder," he continued.

Her responsibility for her actions should have been assessed not as a normal person, but "as she was", someone with a significant disorder, he said.

Had the jury taken into account the disorder, they might have found her not guilty of murder, and instead convicted her of manslaughter, he said.

A manslaughter conviction almost certainly would have led to a much softer sentence than the life term she is currently serving.

Lawyers for Amberstasia, of Hartland Close, are not challenging her manslaughter conviction, but argued today that her 12-year sentence was too tough.

She did not know her sister had a knife and should have been sentenced on the basis that she supported Charice in a plan to do some harm, but not serious harm.

The judges, Lady Justice Hallett, Mr Justice Spencer and Mr Justice Lavender, will give a decision on the appeals by the two, sometimes referred to as 'the Gassman sisters', at a later date.