A man who sliced his partner’s neck with a knife during an attack in her own home in the dead of night has been given a two-year prison sentence.
Children were asleep in bed when 48-year-old Mark Midgley initially followed the woman into a bathroom after a disagreement over a phone charger.
Carlisle Crown Court heard the woman pushed Midgley away and went to the kitchen.
There, he punched her repeatedly to the face and head before grabbing her hair and dragged her to the floor.
The woman then realised Midgley had a kitchen knife. “He swung it towards her, causing her slice injuries to her ear, neck and wrist,” said prosecutor Kim Whittlestone. “He was saying that he was going to kill her.”
Midgley prevented her from phoning for help, and when concerned neighbours initially came to the address he told them that everything was calm.
Over the four to five hours that followed, the woman desperately tried to calm Midgley down before a shocked relative saw her injuries the next morning and police were called. She had throbbing facial pain and blood in her ears having sustained a cut to her neck and an ear and wrist injuries.
A hospital CT scan was clear and no further damage was noted. But in a victim impact statement, the woman outlined profound psychological impact in the aftermath.
“She describes she no longer feels safe,” said Miss Whittlestone. “She is worried about repercussions.” The woman was also left anxious, fearful and struggling to concentrate on her work.
Midgley, of Crosby Street, Maryport, admitted unlawfully and maliciously wounding the woman. A probation service pre-sentence report concluded that he posed a high risk of serious harm to those in a relationship with him.
Anthony Parkinson, mitigating, suggested any jail term imposed could be suspended as Midgley sought to rehabilitate.
But Judge Nicholas Barker imposed an immediate two-year prison sentence, and banned Midgley from having future contact with the woman.
“It is abundantly clear you had lost all control of yourself; that you were wild with anger and that you had no reason left in you,” Judge Barker told him of the attack.
