A 28-YEAR-OLD has been spared jail for stabbing an Albanian with a 7in blade after calling him a suicide bomber.

Debbie Beattie drunkenly taunted Xavier Shehi in the Kings Head pub, King Street, Gravesend, on March 22.

She then stabbed him - leaving him with a 15cm "gaping wound".

Beattie, from King Street, Gravesend, was given a 12-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, and an 18-month supervision order on Monday after pleading guilty to the attack.

Southwark Crown Court heard Beattie approached the victim while he was playing pool with his friend Daniel Johnson.

Prosecutor Daniel Fugalo said Beattie, who was "clearly drunk", started messing around with the pair, asking if she could take some shots and pretending to play guitar with a pool cue.

She asked Mr Shehi, who has been granted asylum after suffering persecution in Albania, what he thought of Britain.

He jokingly replied he thought it was "shit".

Mr Fugalo said: "At this point she turned nasty. She was asking what was in his rucksack, implying he was a suicide bomber.

"Mr Johnson stepped in and told the defendant to be quiet.

"He told her Mr Shehi had been through a lot back in his own country."

The pair then asked barstaff to order Beattie to leave.

But they refused and later Beattie stabbed Mr Shehi.

The victim, in his thirties, lost a lot of blood and needed stitches.

Beattie was arrested and shown CCTV footage of the incident.

She said she could not fully remember what happened but later admitted one count of wounding.

Judge Stephen Robbins told her she would normally face prison but he imposed a suspended sentence, which would let Beattie address her drinking and other problems.

He said: "This was a very nasty attack carried out by you on a totally innocent person.

"You left him with a gaping wound of 15cm in the thigh.

"I am told you were extremely drunk and could not remember aspects of the incident.

"This offence, which was utterly unprovoked, goes well over the custody threshold and normally you would be heading straight to prison.

"But given what I have read in pre-sentence and psychiatric reports it seems a suspended sentence, giving you a chance to address your drink and other problems, would be the appropriate option."