A MAN who stabbed his ex-wife after learning she was in a relationship with another man has been jailed.

Matthew Day was drunk whilst he smashed through his ex-wife’s window in February and pushed her down the stairs, strangled her and stabbed her in the leg with a knife he found in her kitchen.

He then turned the weapon on himself, sticking the blade into his stomach and leg.

The victim needed four stitches and is still traumatised by the events that left her family home covered in blood, Winchester Crown Court was told on Friday.

The attack was labelled as “quite horrendous, shocking, and … traumatising” by the judge, who jailed Day for four years and ten months.

The court was told on Friday that Day, now of Battle Square in Reading, had been told that his ex-wife, with whom he has two children, had started a new relationship after their marriage failed.

The court was also told that Day himself had previously had another relationship since the breakdown of the marriage.

He attended her address in Bramley on February 19, and said he “saw red” when he saw that the new boyfriend was inside.

Prosecutor Andrew Houston told the court that he tried to break both the front and rear doors down, but was not able to. Day then proceeded to throw a brick through the window, and entered the house.

“The curtain was pulled down, he was saying something about this being the ‘endgame’,” Mr Houston continued.

“He said he was going to kill her and [the new boyfriend]. She ended up on the floor with the defendant on top of her trying to strangle her.

“They moved to the kitchen and the defendant ended up with a knife. She thought she was going to die.”

Witnesses described seeing Day holding the knife above his head and swinging it in the direction of his ex-wife.

“She went upstairs, heroically trying to stop him getting to the children. She then realised she had a stab wound in her leg.

“The defendant stabbed himself in the stomach and the leg and then threw the knife away.”

The court had also been told that Day had sent messages earlier that day saying: “If I die and he dies then it’s a win-win. If he dies and I don’t die then that’s prison for me.”

Mr Houston summarised: “If he couldn’t have her then no one could.”

Police and ambulances were called, with the victim having a host of injuries including broken fingers, bruises and a two centimetre stab wound which required four stitches.

A week later, the 37-year-old sent a letter to the victim, apologising for his actions, which said: “You can clearly see I love you and need you and hate how someone else has you.”

In all, £1,600 of damage was caused to the property.

Defending, Adrienne Knight told the court: “Mr Day would like me to say to everybody, not least Leanne, how sorry he is everything turned out the way it did.

“It is such a tragedy that when two people loved each other that 12 years down the line everything has blown apart. Emotions run very high indeed when relationships break down.”

She went on to say that the Covid pandemic had impacted upon his mental health, which was exacerbated by the breakdown in his marriage.

“He is 37 years of age and has never been in trouble before,” Miss Knight continued. “People in prison refer to him as not a normal criminal.

“Undoubtedly drink played a large part in this, but his mental health had reached rock bottom.”

She added that his family had “seen a change in him since he has been in prison”.

“He is so regretful about it all. He is more positive, he is more relaxed, and is opening up about his problems.

“He definitely has issues. If anyone had taken any notice, things might not have got to where they were. He definitely had mental health issues at the time.

“He is disgusted at what he did, he is remorseful. He really wants his children to know that he isn’t the awful person they saw on the 19th.”

But Recorder Daniel Sawyer said that none of the mental health issues he was facing “comes close to excusing what you did”.

“You went round having heard that your wife had a new partner, I note you had had a different relationship at one point as well.

“Your marriage had broken up and your wife was quite free to form other relationships, it was nothing to do with you, but you forced your way into the house, damaged it, and assaulted your wife in a number of ongoing ways including taking a knife, stabbing her in the leg, strangling her, throwing her down the stairs when she was trying to stop you going upstairs to where your children were, and I am taking it that you would not have harmed your children, but there is no way that your wife could have known that.

“Your wife heroically stepped between you and the children and she ended up getting thrown down the stairs, stabbed, strangled, broken fingers, pain everywhere and it so easily could have been worse.

“You then stopped what you were doing and stabbed yourself, still in front of your children.”

He jailed Day for four years and ten months, of which he is likely to serve half before being released on licence.