A mental patient who has arrested with a craft knife blade in Exmouth is back behind bars after the failure of a care package that was designed to protect her from herself.

India Jackson-Mack has a history of using Stanley knife blades to self-harm, causing her to fall foul of Britain’s tough anti-knife laws which were intended to tackle gang culture and youth crime.

She was given a chance to overcome her mental health problems in September when she appeared at Exeter Crown Court and admitted multiple offences of possessing a bladed article in public, including one offence in Exmouth.

She has never threatened or hurt anyone else with a blade and only carries them to self-harm.

A judge that there were exceptional reasons why it would be unjust to impose the mandatory six-month minimum sentence and instead made a community order under which Jackson-Mack would receive help and treatment at a hostel in Selly Oak, Birmingham.

The plan failed after just 15 days because her mental health deteriorated and she lost her room at the hostel, was sectioned and held in a psychiatric hostel in Birmingham.

She was then transferred to the Cedars Unit at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital where she was discharged homeless onto the streets. A few days later, on November 6, she was arrested with a Stanley blade outside Rockfish on Exeter Quay.

Police were called after she rang a mental health worker to say she had a blade and was thinking about harming herself.

Jackson-Mack, aged 29, whose last address was a friend’s house in Honiton, admitted possession of a blade in a public place when she appeared by video link from Eastwood Park prison, where she has been held on remand since that date.

Judge David Evans refused a request to sentence her immediately and ordered a psychiatric report which will look at whether she may be treated in a hospital rather than sent to jail.

He said there was a danger that she would be released homeless and without the support she needs, making a further offence highly likely.