A prison service diversity officer has been cleared of trying to murder her abusive ex-partner after he racially abused black members of her family.

Samantha Burton had agreed to share a caravan at a seaside holiday park with her husband Jason and a six-year-old child but she stabbed him in the chest after an argument on the first night.

She told tourists who went to his rescue that she had snapped after enduring 22 years of abuse.

Burton was working at the time as a diversity officer at HMP Manchester, known as Strangeways, but was suspended after her arrest at the Ladram Bay caravan park near Exmouth and is currently seconded to the probation service.

Her estranged husband is a Porsche-driving company director who runs his own driveway surfacing business in Stockport and was said to be 17 and a half stone, 6’1 tall and heavily built.

She was cleared of attempted murder after telling a jury at Exeter Crown Court that she had stabbed Mr Burton by accident when he lunged at her after going into his bedroom to tell him to get out of the caravan.

Mother-of-three Burton, aged 45, of Bebbington Way, Willaston, near Nantwich, denied attempted murder and was acquitted. The jury were unable to agree a verdict on the lesser charge of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

Judge James Adkin has given the prosecution until next month to decide whether to go for a retrial.

During a four-day trial the jury heard how tourists staying in neighbouring caravans heard the couple arguing on the night of August 7 last year before seeing Mr Burton outside the caravan injured and bleeding heavily.

Mr Brian Fitzherbert, prosecuting said Burton was in a towering rage and neighbours heard her saying ‘get off’, and ‘go on, hit me again, hit me again; you won’t hit me again now, will you?’.

He said Mr and Mrs Burton had separated a couple of years earlier but had gone on holiday together with a six-year-old child. Police and ambulance were called between 10 and 11 pm and Mr Burton was found outside the caravan with a injury to his upper chest. He lost an estimated four pints of blood.

She was recorded on a police bodycam saying the same thing. She also spoke about the abuse she said she had suffered, saying ‘I’ve had 22 years of this, never again’.

A security officer at Ladram Bay said he heard her say ‘For 20 years I’ve been putting up with domestic abuse but I’m not putting up with it any more.’

A police officer said she told him ‘I’ve stabbed him. I’ve had 22 years of domestic abuse. He deserved this. He came at me. He racially abused my grandchild.

Mr Burton told paramedics that his wife had aimed the knife at his heart but missed because he moved. He has not been called as a witness and Mr Fitzherbert said the prosecution accepted there had been a history of domestic abuse in the relationship.

Burton told the jury she ordered Jason out of the caravan because he hit her but he went to his bedroom and slammed the door. She thought he was packing and went in to see whether he had left. She took a knife because she wanted him to take her seriously.

She said he was drunk and abusive towards her and lunged at her as she held the knife, injuring himself in the process. He then attacked her again, knocking her over and standing on her face.

She said he had no intention of causing him any harm and was just trying to get him out of the caravan.

She said: “I was very angry but I never meant to hurt him. I just wanted him out of the caravan. Of course I didn’t want him dead, I’m so sorry.

“He was five stone heavier than me and six inches taller. I was terrified of him. I just felt humiliated. I was angry he had insulted my grandchild but I did not hurt him because of it.

She said she agreed to go on holiday with him for the sake of the child who was with them but had been warned not to by her family. She said he became drunk and abusive towards her and the child after getting drunk at the holiday camp bar.

She said that he was ‘vile’ when he had been drinking or taking drugs and had no boundaries. He said he was foaming at the mouth and his face was contorted like a Scream mask as he lunged towards her.

Burton also said her husband, who she separated from after a violent incident three years ago, has been racist in the past.