Black Country thug jailed for savagely attacking ex with knife

Lee Astley burst into the house they had once shared three days after the split and broke ornaments before grabbing a large knife from the kitchen and hurling it at her, Wolverhampton Crown Court was told.

The blade gouged a deep cut in her thigh and she bled heavily while making a frantic phone call for help to the emergency services as she fled upstairs, said Miss Sarah Allen, prosecuting.

But furious Astley gave chase, kicked open the door to the bedroom and launched a brutal attack.

The 33-year-old threw her onto the bed and repeatedly punched her body and head before halting the attack as quickly as it had started.

He then picked up her mobile phone, took it outside and smashed it to pieces but a 999 operator had heard part of his onslaught on the line that had been left open when the woman's call for assistance was interrupted by his arrival upstairs, the court heard.

The victim was taken to hospital with cuts and bruises on her body and head. The wound on her thigh was deep but not wide.

Astley was arrested soon afterwards. His former partner later told police: "I felt like a slave to him. He terrified and abused me."

Two days after the split he phoned to reveal he was in hospital after taking an overdose, it was said.

She went to see him before returning to the Halesowen house they had shared where the attack took place the following day, October 2.

Miss Blondelle Thompson, defending, pointed out that the victim had been convicted of assaulting Astley in 2011 and continued: "They were a couple who drank a lot. He had problems and lashed out in frustration when he was unable to express himself in situations such as the break up."

Astley, from Teme Road, Halesowen, pleaded guilty to wounding and was jailed by Recorder Stephen Thomas, who said: "You armed yourself with a fearsome weapon you threw at your former partner."