JEALOUS STALKER KNIFED MAN IN FRENZIED PENHILL ATTACK
A STALKER who burst into his former girlfriend’s house and stabbed her new man in a frenzied attack has been jailed for four years and eight months.And Lee Phillips will be on licence for an extra three years following his release after a judge deemed he presented a significant risk of serious harm of further violence.
Phillips, 36, launched the brutal assault at Annie Russell’s home in Penhill after their brief relationship ended.
Colin Meeke, prosecuting, told Swindon Crown Court that Phillips took the split badly and although Miss Russell told him she never wanted to see him again, he continued to pester her.
On September 29, she went to a pub near Coate Water for a drink with Bruce Bridges, a man she met through mutual friends.
He then drove them back to her home and they were in the living room at about 8.30pm when Phillips turned up outside.
“A voice was heard shouting ‘I know you are in there Annie, I can hear you talking.’ Mr Bridges knew she had what she described to him as a stalker,” said Mr Meeke.
“She urged him to be quiet and the two of them sat quietly in the house hoping Mr Phillips would go away.
He continued to make noises outside.
“At one point he yelled ‘If you don't talk to me I’ll bust the door in.
I’ll kill him.
I’ll cut his throat.
I have got a screwdriver’.” Mr Meeke said Mr Bridges thought it best if he left but as he got up Phillips came in through the unlocked back door.
He grabbed the victim and punched him in the head before producing a blade.
The pair were grappling as Phillips brought the weapon down on him several times.
“He was hell bent on stabbing him.
Blood was on the floor,” Mr Meeke said.
“This went on for some time before the defendant left.
He was not there by the time the police arrived.” Mr Bridges suffered a puncture wound to his chest, a slash wound to his left hand, a cut on his right elbow as well as other cuts to his chin and body.
Mr Meeke said that he not only suffered the physical injuries but the traumatic ordeal had affected his self-confidence.
Phillips, of Keynsham, Bristol, pleaded guilty to a charge of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
Since being remanded in custody he said he had managed to get clean of drugs which were affecting him at the time of the incident.
Judge Douglas Field said: “It is of great good fortune that you didn't cause him more serious wounds with this prolonged and frenzied attack with a knife.”
