AN ALLOA woman who was threatening to hurt herself was talked down by a caring member of the public, a court has heard.

Karen Haslam, of Springfield Road was found on the town’s Argyll Street on August 4, 2017 armed with a quantity of knives and behaving in a threatening manner which could cause alarm.

Alloa Sheriff Court heard that at around 7pm, the troubled Haslam was approached by a concerned passer-by.

The depute fiscal, Susannah Hutchison, said: “A member of the public saw her in a distressed manner saying she was needing help and would kill herself. She had a number of knives in her waistband.

“Police officers were notified. When they found her she was in possession of three large kitchen knives and started waving them around.

“She was heard shouting ‘f*** off or I’ll slit my throat.”

Haslam, 48, then proceeded to hand them over to a member of the public who had been urging her to stop what she was doing, and the knives were then passed to police officers.

Haslam also pleaded guilty to a breach of her bail order on September 8, by being out of her bail address between the hours of 9pm and 6am.

Furthermore, on September 24, she was in breach once again after being found outside of her home between the prescribed hours.

Her defence lawyer, Claire McCarron, told the court the incident involving the knives was a “serious offence and one that could have caused harm” but that it “was a cry for help.”

She continued: “She has a long history of mental health troubles. Her son causes her a great deal of stress. He is now not allowed to contact the accused.

“I am asking you to defer sentence to show she can be of good behaviour.”

There was also a motion to remove the bail order preventing her to leave her home between 9pm and 6am as there was a fear that she would continue to reoffend by not following it.

Sheriff David Mackie told Haslam that he could see that she was doing a lot to try and help herself out of the situation she was in.

Sentence was deferred for six months for good behaviour and admonished Haslam on the two breaches of bail.

The special bail order was also removed.