A woman stabbed her boyfriend in a frenzy after he tried to stop her from packing too many holiday clothes.
Lesley Bradbury knifed Gary Moore in what has been described as a ‘pathological rage’ when she found he’d unloaded items she’d already packed in their car.
The 50-year-old is said to have shouted ‘he deserved it’ when police arrived at the couple’s home in Middleton to discover a wound on Moore’s left bicep. He was treated for his wounds but is believed to have made a full recovery.
A court heard how former invoice clerk Bradbury has a condition which causes her to hoard belongings and protect them in ‘a pathological way.’
First, Bradbury was charged with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, however prosecutors accepted her guilty plea to unlawful wounding.
Appearing at Minshull Street Crown Court in Manchester, Bradbury was given a 12 month prison sentence, suspended for 18 months. She is also ordered to complete 30 days of rehabilitation activity requirement.
The victim refused to give a statement to the police and it is believed he and Bradbury are still together and the case was originally delayed over concerns about Bradbury’s continuing relationship with the victim.
The attack happened at 1.30pm on December 29 last year, when the pair were packing for a holiday over the New Year.
Prosecutor Jonathan Turner said:
Police attended the home Bradbury shared with her partner and he was outside he had a two inch stab wound to his left bicep.
‘The defendant had stabbed him with a knife after he moved some of her belongings out of the car they were packing for a holiday. She said to police he deserved it and she wanted to kill herself.
Inside the house he had thrown some of her possessions and she had stabbed him in order to stop him. There is no complaint from the complainant – he is hopeful for a renewal in the relationship.’
Mitigating, defence lawyer Richard English said:
It is a case where if the defendant was well this wouldn’t have happened.
Upon sentencing, judge Paul Lawton said:
It has been difficult to get to the bottom of why you did this.
You do have a psychological disorder that causes you to hoard goods and you need to protect those in a pathological way so you lashed out at him with a knife.
But that doesn’t reduce your culpability – the knife could have gone into the chest and it could have been a different scenario. Your conduct has to be marked with a prison sentence but it won’t be an immediate custodial sentence.
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Emma Rosemurgey is an NCTJ trained Journalist who started her career by producing The Royal Rosemurgey newspaper in 2004, which kept her family up to date with the goings on of her sleepy north east village. She graduated from the University of Central Lancashire in Preston and started her career in regional newspapers before joining Tyla (formerly Pretty 52) in 2017, and progressing onto UNILAD in 2019.