A CARLISLE man repeatedly yelled that he had been “stitched up” as a court heard a graphic account of how he twice assaulted his partner and threatened her with a knife.

The crown court judge said that photos of the serious facial injuries inflicted on the woman by her then partner, 24-year-old Matthew Vickers, were “among the worst” that he had seen for a very long time.

The defendant, from Linstock, north of Carlisle, admitted two actual bodily harm assaults, threatening the victim with a knife in a private place, and causing criminal damage to a window.

Prosecutor Gerard Rogerson outlined the offending.

The defendant and the victim, who were together for almost two years, were out together in Carlisle city centre on December 11 last year, and they fell out. At one point, Vickers smashed a vinegar bottle next to the woman, prompting her to move seats.

After he accused her of “looking at another man", she walked away.

The argument continued once they had arrived back at her Carlisle home, and he accused her of cheating on him. He became “worked up,” said Mr Rogerson, prompting her to open her front door and try to push him out.

“He came straight back in,” said Mr Rogerson.

“He grabbed her by the hair and repeatedly punched her to the face.” He briefly left then called the woman, asking to be let back into the house, saying that he would sleep on the sofa.

Once she had allowed him back inside, the argument resumed, with Vickers once again accusing her of being unfaithful. He threw her phone across the bedroom room and used both of his hands to slap her repeatedly.

When she threatened to call the police, the court heard, he hit himself with a Moretti beer bottle, smashing it, saying: “I’ll tell the police you’ve done this to me.” He then grabbed another bottle and hit the woman, again smashing the bottle.

It caused cuts to her nose. “He was repeatedly trying to snatch the phone from her,” said Mr Rogerson. When he went down the stairs, the woman called the police.

While she was on the phone, the court heard, he returned up the stairs, carrying a large silver knife.

“He came towards her with the knife pointing towards her,” said the prosecutor. “[She] said that she thought he was going to stab her… She dropped the phone and put her hands up in front of her face.

“She felt terrified, and she was crying.

“She didn’t feel the knife make any contact but she did sustain a cut to the back of her hand but was unsure at what point that happened.” As he left the property, Vickers smashed the kitchen window.

The court then about the second assault on January 23.

Vickers had returned to the woman’s home so they could talk and, even though they had split up, he accused her of talking to other men on Snapchat. He called her names and hit her four times, said Mr Rogerson.

When she told him to leave, he said he had nowhere to go.

The prosecutor said: “He told her ‘I’m staying her.’ He called her [insulting names], took hold of her by the hair, and dragged her from the kitchen, stood over her and started punching her to the side of the head, over and over again.

Mr Rogerson said: “She felt like she was in serious danger.”

After the assault, the woman said she felt “horrible”.

“She feels he is capable of anything,” continued Mr Rogerson. She spoke of struggling to sleep, and feeling "stared at" because of her black eyes when she returned to college to sit exams that she was due to take.

Vickers was convicted of another actual bodily harm assault last year when he was with a group of four men who attacked a man, repeatedly kicking and punching him.

Jeff Smith, defending, accepted that the violence against the woman was “awful.” He described Vickers as “a vulnerable young man,” who came from a broken home. Living with his mother until he was 11 or 12, he then lived with his father.

They had got on well.

But when Vickers was 16, his father was seriously injured in a motorbike crash and he was now being cared for in a residential facility in Northampton.

“He’s not likely ever to recover from the injuries,” said Mr Smith. “From the age of 16, Mr Vickers has had to stand on his own two feet.”

The defendant mixed with inappropriate circles, misusing drugs and alcohol. While in custody, for the first time in many years, he had free of drugs and alcohol.

As Recorder Julian Shaw passed sentence, Vickers, appearing over a video link, repeatedly shouted at the court, saying: “I didn’t even bottle her or threaten her. She bottled herself. She was self-harming. Nobody has told my side of the story…

"I saved her and she's told lies. I’ve been absolutely stitched up.”

The judge earlier said of the woman's injures: "They are injuries inflicted on a defenceless woman, with whom he was in an intimate relationship in the sanctuary of her own home.”

Recorder Shaw told Vickers he must learn to curb his temper and to not attack women. He jailed the defendant for three years. A restraining order banning any contact with the victim will be in place for five years.