A MAN has been jailed for nine years after he stabbed, punched and kicked his ex-partner in a violent and sustained attack.

Neil Cullum, 48, of Chancel Close, Laindon, told his victim that he was going to kill her after tracking her down at her elderly aunt’s sheltered home in Meadow Court, Wickford.

He admitted wounding with intent and breaching a restraining order and appeared before Judge Samantha Leigh to be sentenced at Basildon Crown Court yesterday morning.

Andrew Jackson, prosecuting, told the court that Cullum and his victim, who is in her 50s, had dated for about 15 months before she ended the relationship because of his excessive drinking.

He described the horrific attack to the court which began in the victim’s aunt’s kitchen on July 6 this year.

Her 75-year-old aunt lives in sheltered accommodation and the victim regularly visited - a fact which Cullum was well aware of, according to Mr Jackson.

Cullum stormed into the house and was immediately aggressive and demanded his ex partner come outside to talk to him.

When she refused, Cullum began punching her in the face. She told him to stop to which he replied “I told you I was going to kill you. I’m going to kill you”.

Mr Jackson said: "The aunt pressed her carer alarm panic button and followed Cullum as he took the woman into the lounge where he continued punching and kicking her.”

He then took a knife with an 8cm blade from his trousers and began stabbing her.

The aunt hit Cullum with her walking stick while on the phone to the police and ambulance.

Throughout the ordeal, Cullum was shouting that he was going to kill Lisa.

Mr Jackson added: “The aunt managed to hit the defendant over the head and hand causing the knife to fall away. She covered it with a cushion.”

Cullum fled the scene when he heard the phone call from the operator telling the aunt that police were on their way. He handed himself in to Basildon police station the following day.

The victim was taken to Basildon Hospital with several puncture wounds to the chest and around her kidneys.

She also had a puncture wound above her left eye as well as bruising and a suspected broken nose.

In her victim impact statement, which was read at court, she said: “I feel like I have been given a life sentence for what he did.

“I will constantly be looking over my shoulder for the next attack.”

The woman told the court she had been left feeling self-conscious because of a scar on her face which she described as “a constant reminder of what he did”.

She added: “The mental anguish is so great that I am having counselling and now have a support worker. I do not feel like the same person anymore. 

“I am scared to be on my own and to let anyone get in close proximity to me.”

The victim's aunt also described how she is scared to be in her own home since the incident and now always keeps the doors locked and does not open them at night.

The court heard how Cullum had a history of harassing his ex-partner since she ended the relationship including slashing her tyres and making false claims to her doctor.

Sentencing Cullum, Judge Leigh said: “There was a complete and utter inability to accept the break down of the relationship which was due to your own behaviour.

“You handed yourself into police and it was quite clear you knew what you had done.

“The victim is fearful of being stopped by you again and is unable to really carry out her every day life.”

She added that his previous history “paled in insignificance” in light of this attack.

She sentenced him to nine years in prison with an extended licence of five years.

He was also made subject to a restraining order that forbids him contacting the victim or her family indefinitely.