A VIOLENT two-timer from Rugby chillingly ran a knife blade up his girlfriend’s arm as she lay in bed and asked her how she wanted him to stab her.
Danny Wright then lunged towards her chest with a kitchen knife – but luckily the blade struck the breastbone just below the terrified woman’s heart.
Wright, 30, of Buchannan Road, Rugby, pleaded guilty at Warwick Crown Court to wounding his victim (‘Miss A’) with intent, two assaults on his other girlfriend (‘Miss B’), theft and causing damage.
As part of an ‘extended sentence,’ he was jailed for a total of seven years, of which he will have to serve at least two-thirds, and will then be on licence for the rest of that term and for a further four years.
Prosecutor Scott Coughtrie said: “It appears both (Miss A) and (Miss B) were sharing the attention of Mr Wright in the early part of this year.
“(Miss B) says she had been in a relationship with him for a while, but became concerned about his behaviour because he seemed to be displaying paranoia.”
In February Wright, who had been drinking, lost his temper when he saw an e-mail on Miss B’s phone and threw the phone across the room.
Holding a knife and a pair of scissors, he told her: “Don’t think I won’t do it. I’ve got to do it; I’ve gone too far now.”
The woman feared for her safety, but he then calmed down and left.
On March 17 Wright turned up at her home pestering her for money, but she refused. When he left she realised he had taken her bank card, and found it had been used to withdraw £200.
He then called her at six in the morning, and told her he was with Miss A, adding: “I want to come back to yours.”
She said he could not, at which Wright told her: “I’ve done it to her now. I’ve stabbed her. She didn’t believe me at first.” He was heard asking Miss A to tell Miss B he had stabbed her.
After leaving Miss B, Wright had gone to see Miss A, and they had then spent much of the day drinking.
But when Wright, who had previous convictions for robbery and wounding with intent, revealed he was on licence from prison, she asked him to leave.
He then said he was going to have a beer before leaving, so she went back to bed.
Miss A then woke to the feeling of cold metal being brushed up and down her arm and saw Wright holding a large knife.
He sat on the bed next to her and told her: “You know what’s going to happen now.”
As the terrified woman pulled the blanket up to her chin, Wright said: “It’s gone too far. It’s got to happen, I’m going to jail anyway. It’s got to happen, just accept it.”
She pleaded with him to put the knife down, at which he told her: “You’d say anything to save your life.”
And chillingly, with her too frightened even to scream, he asked: “How do you want me to stab you? How do you want it?”
He then lunged towards her with the knife, aiming at her chest, and she felt a sharp pain and a thump as the blade struck the bone below her heart.
Looking at the wound, Wright said he had gone too far, and it was then that he made the call to Miss B who went round to Miss A’s home.
When she arrived Wright grabbed for her phone and pushed her to the ground, but she managed to get up and fled.
When he was arrested Wright blamed Miss A for the half-inch wound, claiming she had caused it herself, and claimed the £200 he stole from Miss B had been a gift.
Paul O’Keefe, defending, said: “Mr Wright has instructed me not to argue against a sentence which would detain him for longer than if he had a determinate sentence. To his credit he has accepted that he needs help.
“When he sits there without alcohol in his system and without cocaine in his system, and not being challenged emotionally and is told what he’s done, he becomes concerned.
“I do not oppose a finding of dangerousness. He believes unless he’s given a structure where he is told he has to complete the courses before he’s considered for release, he won’t do them.
“Unless he receives the help he’s asking for, he’s concerned about his behaviour on his eventual release.”
Jailing Wright, Recorder Michael Burrows QC told him: “It must have been a terrifying ordeal for (Miss A), it being made clear she was going to be stabbed and being asked how she wanted to be stabbed.
“You stabbed her in the chest while she was in bed in her own home. Fortunately it did not cause the most serious wound, but it must have been the most terrifying ordeal for her.”
