A woman armed herself with a kitchen knife and threatened to "slice up" a neighbour as the victim's terrified young son looked on, a court has heard. Miriam Heale was described by witnesses as foaming at the mouth and "acting like a madwoman" as she ranted in the street on a sunny Sunday afternoon.
She then turned her aggression on the police who responded to 999 calls, subjecting officers to half a hour of abuse and threats. Swansea Crown Court heard Heale has experienced a number of traumas in her life including seeing her brother sentenced to life in prison for murder when she was aged just 15.
Dean Pulling, prosecuting, said the knife confrontation began when a woman living in Llanllienwen Close in Cwmrhydycierw, Swansea, returned home on the afternoon of March 20 to find her house had been broken into and ransacked. The woman began asking neighbours if they had heard or seen anything suspicious and she called out to Heale who she could see was sitting in her nearby flat. The court heard the interaction was initially without any issues but then Heale suddenly burst out of her property with a kitchen knife in hand and began waving it at the burglary victim shouting: "I'm going to slice you up" and: "I've been watching you for months". The woman and her young son retreated into their house and 35-year-old Heale began banging on the front door and threatening to kill the mother.
