FORMER Frome College teacher Matthew Jones has been jailed for 12 years for stabbing Emma Kirk at least 15 times in a “brutal and frenzied attack” in a Bath street.
Jones, of of Ivy Avenue, Southdown, Bath, attacked 25-year-old Ms Kirk in February last year after she told him they wouldn’t be anything more than friends.
He insisted on meeting her in a lane off Dransfield Way so she could hand back gifts he had bought her.
But at 4.20pm, Jones was restrained by members of the public after stabbing Emma.
In bodycam footage released by Avon & Somerset Police, Jones can be heard telling officers: “Don’t show me respect. I’m a monster.”
Emma suffered multiple stab wounds and cuts to her neck, face, head, abdomen and hands in the horrific attack, with surgeons telling her family the knife had been millimetres from a key artery and it was “a miracle” she survived.
The prompt actions of members of the public who intervened and gave first aid, and the quick response of emergency services are credited with saving her life.
She needed emergency surgery and was placed in a medically-induced coma. Her injuries meant she couldn’t tell officers about the attack until 10 days later.
During his initial interview, Matthew Jones gave police officers a prepared statement, in which he denied deliberately stabbing Emma, saying he was acting in self-defence, and he could only assume she was injured during their struggle.
Later, Jones entered a guilty plea to an offence of causing grievous bodily harm with intent, accepting he did deliberately stab her, not in self-defence, but intending to cause her serious harm. He continued to deny any intention to kill.
The sentencing hearing at Bristol Crown Court today (May 9), was for the charge he had previously admitted: causing grievous bodily harm with intent.
In a harrowing personal statement read to the court, Emma described the immediate physical impact of the attack, during which she suffered more than 15 knife wounds to her head, neck and body, saying she thought she was going to die.
She has suffered irreparable nerve damage to her neck and hands, requires further treatment and is expected to lose feeling in a finger on one hand and a thumb on the other.
As well as the permanent physical injuries, Emma said she is still suffering the after-effects of the attack on her emotional wellbeing.
“I had to move back home with my parents so they could provide me with the physical and psychological support I needed,” she said. “At a time when the word should have felt exciting to me, I felt stripped on my independence as a young professional woman, feeling too scared to leave my parents’ home for months.
“Having to return to court so many times and relive the traumatic experience has been incredibly difficult for me and has been a huge mental setback in my overall recovery.
“The physical and emotional pain I have endured has left a lasting impact on my life, and I continue to struggle with the trauma that was inflicted on me.”
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Emma’s father, John, also provided an impact statement, which said: “We provided total care for weeks. [Emma] had been so badly affected by the attack that she needed the continual support and reassurance of my wife or me. For many weeks she was so frightened that she could not sleep alone and my wife had to sleep with her.
“She, and to an extent us, no longer felt safe in our own home … This fear is still affecting the whole of my family. Over the last 15 months my family’s life has been totally dominated by the horrific attack Emma suffered and the aftermath.
“The family has been to court on numerous occasions … and watch[ed] a video of her covered in blood saying she thought she was going to die and please tell her family that she loved us. None of us will ever forget what we saw and heard.
“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.
“The after-effects of this attack will probably never completely go away. The main positive of course is that Emma is still with us. She has shown herself to be a brave and courageous woman, who is loved by many and who will with the support of her family and friends get through this.”
Sentencing, His Honour Judge Julian Lambert told Jones: “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.
“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.”
HHJ Lambert described the consequences of the attack as “extremely grave and long lasting”.
He said that sentencing needed to be adjusted for Jones’ “previous good character” and for “the exceptional effort you are making in respect of your rehabilitation in prison”.
HHJ Lambert said: “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. You must serve two-thirds of the custodial term and your release is then at the discretion of a parole board.”
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