AN ALCOHOLIC who chased four teenagers round a city park with a kitchen knife has been spared jail.

Jean Harrison, 52, was seen to fall over drunk in Summerway Park in Whipton while walking her dog, Exeter Crown Court was told.

Three boys aged 12, 13 and 15 asked what was wrong and she tried to smack one. As they left one said to her, "Catch me", and Harrison of Willowbrook Avenue, Whipton, chased after them shouting "I'll get you."

The boys made unpleasant remarks to her and racist comments, the court heard.

Harrison then went into her house, came out with a filleting knife, went towards the boys, sitting on a nearby wall, and chased them as they ran away.

She then saw a 15-year-old girl, who had not been with the boys, and approached her with the knife; she also fled.

Prosecuting, Richard Crabb said Harrison was waving the knife at them and told her Rott- weiler dog: "Go get them."

The teenagers ran to the girl's home and told her mum. The girl was crying and shaking and suffered nightmares, he said.

A few days after the incident, which was on February 15, a tearful Harrison told the girl's mum she was 'very sorry'.

Harrison had previously admitted having an offensive weapon in public, and affray.

Police were also threatened with Harrison's dog when the went to arrest her at home and had to use protective shields.

Joss Ticehurst, for Harrison, said her client realised she must address her alcoholism.

Imposing a two-year community order with supervision and a mental health requirement, Judge Barry Cotter described her actions as 'extraordinary behaviour'.

Those who saw her must have thought she had taken leave of her senses, he said. He was taking a lenient course due to her history and problems but a breach would land her in jail.