A TEENAGE mum who hid the knife her boyfriend used in an unprovoked stabbing has been spared jail.

Lauren Wyatt was with her partner when he plunged the blade into the back of his victim on Bath Road last year.

Then as police were scouring the area outside The Foyer after arresting Kalem Smith for the assault she tried her best to dispose of the evidence.

But after hearing how the 19-year-old regretted what she had done and had never been in trouble before a judge imposed a suspended sentence.

Colin Meeke, prosecuting, told Swindon Crown Court how the 26-year-old victim had been out drinking in Old Town on Saturday, November 5, last year.

In the early hours of the following morning the man, who had been celebrating a rugby win, saw a couple arguing and he briefly intervened.

“As he left them he became aware of Kalem Smith, this defendant’s then partner, following him,” he said.

“Moments later he was stabbed in the back. That in due course caused the collapsed lung and damage to his spleen which needed fairly rapid surgical intervention.”

He said the police had set up cordon around the front of The Foyer, stopping anyone from going in to the building.

When Smith tried to go through, and was told he couldn’t as it was a crime scene, he replied it was his crime scene as he had stabbed someone, leading to his arrest.

Later in the morning Wyatt, who knew where the weapon had been dumped, got a friend to go outside with her.

“She went to the front garden of a house where she knew the knife was,” Mr Meeke told the court.

After getting her pal to cause a distraction by bending down to tie her shoelace she retrieved it and hid it up her sleeve.

The women then walked to Town Gardens where Wyatt cleaned the blood off the blade before dropping it into a nearby drain.

Mr Meeke said that had it not been for her pal going to the police months later the weapon would never have been found.

Though Smith made partial admissions when he was arrested he later claimed he only said it to get arrested to give him peace and quiet away from his nagging partner.

However he pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm with intent and is in hospital being assessed for mental health treatment.

Wyatt, of Bright Street, pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice.

Chris Smyth, defending, said that his client had no previous convictions and was in love with Smith at the time.

“I put it as an impulsive, stupid act out of misguided loyalty, thinking it would help him but useless as he had already admitted it,” he said.

A few weeks before the incident he said she had contacted the hospital as she was concerned about his erratic behaviour, but he was discharged after getting treatment.

He added that the incident took place shortly after the child she had when she was 16 was adopted after being taken from her by social services.

Judge Tim Mousley QC imposed a 16-month jail term suspended for 18 months with a four-month curfew, 30 days of rehabilitation activity requirement and 200 hours of unpaid work.