The wife of a so-called 'neighbour from hell' has admitted carrying a knife and meat cleaver in a public place after rowing with her husband.

Reah DeBanks said she planned to kill herself after taking the knife and 6in meat cleaver from their home in Leiden Road, Wood Farm, Oxford, following a heated argument with husband Graham.

The mother-of-six was arrested at 7.45am on November 25 at the Green Road roundabout, Headington.

Yesterday (March 22) DeBanks, 35, pleaded guilty to two charges of carrying an offensive weapon. Three further charges relating to allegedly carrying five knives and a pair of scissors at Shotover Country Park on January 13 were dismissed following her guilty plea. When asked by police officers why she was carrying the weapons on November 25, DeBanks said: "Protection, I suppose. I have been attacked before, I didn't really think about it. "I had left my house to kill myself after an argument and then the police arrested me."

Warwick Clarke, defend- ing, said his client's remark about wanting the weapons for protection had been a "throw-away comment" and she had in fact wanted to commit suicide.

Her husband, who was given a two-year antisocial behaviour order (Asbo) at Oxford Magistrates' Court last August, banning him from Oxford's Northway estate, had called police because he was concerned.

District Judge Brian Loosley said he wanted to try to help DeBanks and ordered her to undergo a psychiatric assessment before sentencing on May 6.

He told her: "Fortunately or unfortunately, I know about your family and having dealt with your husband I know of the difficulties there are and the dynamics of your family, and the difficulties you are facing at the present time."

Mr DeBanks sat quietly in the public gallery, but as he left the court with his wife, he shouted at Mr Loosley: "I was never convicted."

The 40-year-old was accused of breaching his Asbo a few weeks after it was put in place by allegedly telephoning witness Steve McKibben, but the case was dropped due to lack of evidence.

Mr McKibben was among seven people who gave evidence against Mr DeBanks, who formerly lived in Plowman Tower, Northway, during a trial which resulted in him being given the Asbo by Mr Loosley.

Plowman Tower residents described him as a "neighbour from hell" and both he and his wife were rehoused by Oxford City Council in Leiden Road.

Mr Loosley said he was considering sentencing Mrs DeBanks to a Community Rehabilitation Order with a condition that she undergo psychiatric treatment, depending on the results of the assessment.