A British school teacher was sentenced to 12 years in prison after he reportedly stabbed his girlfriend 15 times after she rejected his romantic advances after a two-year fling
A British school teacher was sentenced to 12 years in prison after he reportedly stabbed his girlfriend 15 times after she rejected his romantic advances. According to the BBC, Emma Kirk and Matthew Jones met in 2022 when the pair were studying at college together.
According to Kirk, who testified at Jones’ trial, the pair began seeing each other over the next 18 months and became “really good friends” and then “romantically involved” when they were intimate on one or two occasions. Kirk said she ended the relationship in 2024 and told Jones that they “wouldn’t be anything more than friends.”
Police told the outlet that Jones did not take the rejection well. He started showing up at the school where Kirk worked and texting her after she ended the relationship. Police reported that one day, Jones texted Kirk, “insisting” that she meet him on a quiet road so she could return gifts he had bought her.
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Complying with his wish, Kirk showed up at the location and was attacked by her ex-lover, who repeatedly stabbed her in the neck, face, head, abdomen, and hands. “Surgeons told her family the knife had been millimeters from a key artery and it was ‘a miracle’ she survived,” police said in the statement.
Police who arrived at the scene revealed that Kirk had been saved by five men who managed to pull the frenzied man off of her. The outlet stated that after authorities arrived at the scene, he was seen on surveillance video telling a police officer, “Don’t show me respect. I’m a monster. I don’t deserve it.”
While in custody, Jones allegedly handed officers a prepared statement in which he denied deliberately stabbing Kirk. Police later stated that, according to him, he was acting in self-defense.
In April, Jones was acquitted of murder. Police stated that Jones pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm with intent, “accepting that he did deliberately stab her, not in self-defense, but intending to cause her serious harm.”
“He continued to deny any intention to kill,” police stated. While in court, Kirk recounted the horrific moment for a stunned audience.
“I had to move back home with my parents so they could provide me with the physical and psychological support I needed,” recounted Kirk. She said she felt “too scared to leave my parents’ home for months.”
Kirk stated that the attack “has left a lasting impact on my life.” Her father also corroborated the story, saying, “Words cannot express how incredibly grateful I am to those brave members of the public who intervened to save Emma’s life that day. I will never be able to thank them enough for their bravery.”
He added that the “after-effects of this attack will probably never completely go away. The main positive, of course, is that Emma is still with us.” During his sentencing, Judge Julian Lambert slammed Jones’ behavior.
“There was nothing in your past that could have predicted what happened next, which was a knife attack perpetrated with a ferocious determination to injure seriously, rarely seen before in the long experience of the court,” he said. “You stabbed her, more than 15 times – in a brutal and frenzied attack. You were described as ‘a man possessed.”
“Public-spirited citizens went to help. They disarmed and detained you as you were still wielding a knife, doing all you could to attack the victim, even when restrained by five others,” he continued. “What you did was so unpredictable and so mercilessly fierce and persistent, I’m afraid … I consider you will remain unpredictable for some very considerable time in spite of the good work you’re doing in prison”
“I therefore impose an extended determinate sentence of 16 years, custodial term 12 years, extended licence duration four years,” he added. “You must serve two-thirds of the custodial term and your release is then at the discretion of a parole board.”
