Barry man has sentence for ‘terrifying attack’ increased after appeal
Barry man has sentence for ‘terrifying attack’ increased after appeal
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A jilted boyfriend who stabbed his lottery-winning girlfriend in the face in a jealous rage has had his jail sentence increased to more than 20 years – after his original 13 years was ruled as too soft.
Stephen Gibbs, 46, launched a boozy horror attack on jackpot winning Emma Brown, 50, when she announced she was leaving him.
The pair had been in a relationship for 12 years but the “dynamic changed” when Ms Brown scooped a £5.5million lottery win – and he became bitter of her fortune.
A court heard Gibbs had issues with his partner “being more in control of her own life” after winning the “considerable amount of money.”
He was jailed for 13 years with five years on licence – but this has now been increased to 20 years seven months.
A Court of Appeal hearing in Cardiff Crown Court was told by Attorney General Suella Braverman QC that the original sentence had been “unduly lenient” after he admitted attempted murder.
Ms Braverman said the offence should have been put in a higher category of harm by the judge due to the “serious physical and psychological” harm caused to the victim.
She said: “The offender stabbed the victim seven times in the face and broke her shoulder. He used an 8-9in kitchen knife, and even he believed he may have killed the victim afterward.
“The judge should have reasonably concluded the harm was serious.”
Appeal court judge Lady Justice Nicola Davies concluded the sentence was unduly lenient.
Gibbs has now been sentenced to 20 years and seven months in prison with an extended licence period of five years. He will have to serve two-thirds of the custodial sentence before being considered for parole.
Justice Davies said: “This was a sustained and terrifying attack upon a defenceless victim in her own home.
“The offender commenced the attack and having inflicted some injury, paused the attack to go to the kitchen and pick up a kitchen knife, return to the victim where she was lying on the ground and thereafter stabbed her seven times.
“This victim was stabbed seven times in the face while the offender was sat on her chest in close proximity to her head. She suffered a number of facial fractures and one of the stab wounds was close to her eye, the result of which left her with blurred vision, her eye-lid now droops, and she has numbness across her face.
“It’s clear from her victim statement that however resilient and strong the victim is, she has suffered long-term emotional and physical consequences.
“The court accepts the sentence passed by the judge was unduly lenient.”
During the trial, prosecutor Ieuan Bennett said Gibbs also accused Ms Brown of cheating on him – and fitted a tracker to her car in the weeks before the attack.
Mr Bennett said Gibbs had been drinking all afternoon when he attacked Ms Brown at their £700,000 home.
He said: “The dynamics of the relationship were changed in 2017 when she had the good fortune of winning the national lottery competition and in fact won a considerable amount of money.
“That meant she became financially independent of the defendant.”
Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court heard Ms Brown bought a string of properties following her win and wanted to travel the world.
But she started to realise her and Gibbs were like “chalk and cheese” as they began arguing at their home in Lakeside, Barry, South Wales.
The court heard Emma came home from shopping at 7.30pm on January 30 to find drunk Gibbs in the kitchen.
He accused her of having an affair with a school friend and questioned her about where she had been.
Mr Bennett said: “She informed him their relationship was at an end. She told him she had seen the relationship falling apart for a number of months.
“She remembers him losing his temper and grabbing her by the throat.”
The court heard Gibbs slammed his partner into the wall of the house and put her in a headlock to choke her.
Mr Bennett said Ms Brown tried to escape by running to the front of the house but Gibbs managed to catch up.
He said: “She must have gone to the ground. She remembers him going into the kitchen and taking possession of a large kitchen knife.”
The court heard Gibbs told his partner that he wanted to cut his own throat – so she attempted to stop him hurting himself.
But he then “turned his anger onto her” and repeatedly stabbed her in the face on the garden patio.
Mr Bennett said: “She remembers the sight of a knife she thought was going into one of her eyes.”
She was left face down in a pool of blood before a neighbour heard her groaning “help” over the garden fence.
Security footage from the home showed Gibbs making no attempts to help his partner when he left her and fled the scene.
He called a friend and said: “I’ve stabbed Emma.”
He said: “I found out she has been messing around cheating on me. I stabbed her in the face. I think I killed her.”
The court heard Gibbs had driven to the Wenvoe area near Cardiff in his Mercedes and had taken tablets.
Police rushed to the scene and found an eight to nine inch blade covered in blood on the passenger seat. They also found a tracking device had been fitted on the vehicle on January 17 to track where Ms Brown was driving.
The court heard Gibbs accepted what had happened but told police he had not tried to kill his partner.
Ms Brown was left seven stab wounds to the face – each measuring between two and three centimetres.
The court heard she lost 75 per cent vision in her right eye and lost movement in her right arm. She also suffered scarring and drooping to her eyelid.
In a victim impact statement, Ms Brown said she felt “completely numb to everything” following the attack.
She said: “We were together for 12 years and I can’t believe how much he was able to deceive me.
“I can’t even begin to contemplate opening myself up again.”
The court heard Ms Brown said the attack had a “crippling effect” on her and she now suffers a lack of confidence due to her injuries.
She added: “I used to be the life and soul of the party but now I don’t want to be in a large group.
“I will carry this with me for the rest of my life. I struggle to deal with the fact that we were together for 12 years and we were happy.”
Previously stabbed 11-year-old son
The court heard Gibbs had carried out a copycat knife attack in another jealous rage with another former lover and her 11-year-old son in 2005.
He attacked the boy after the lad’s mother ended a relationship with him – stabbing him five times, four times in the back and once in the chest.
Gibbs later attempted suicide by stabbing himself and jumping from a multi-storey carpark but survived the fall.
Flooring worker Gibbs was previously handed a 10-year extended sentence for GBH and GBH with intent following the horrific attack.
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