Murderous 'monster' Steven Wood left his loving partner to die in a pool of her own blood with a knife embedded in her chest after a frenzied attack in her own home.
Martina Turner thought Wood was her soulmate, having fallen for his charm and generosity. But after he moved into her home in Winlaton Mill, Gateshead, his behaviour started to become erratic and unpredictable because he wasn't taking medication for his mental health issues.
After a couple of flashpoints, the couple were trying to work through their difficulties when Wood suddenly snapped and repeatedly knifed Martina after she said she wanted to go for a walk and he told her not to. After knifing her time and again in the back, he told her he would have to finish her off and plunged a larger blade into her chest, where it became embedded.
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Newcastle Crown Court heard Wood then left his lover for dead in a pool of her own blood in a kitchen cupboard, locking her in the house and taking her key. Having suffered 29 knife wounds, it was a miracle she survived.
As Wood was jailed for life for attempted murder, Martina bravely went into the witness box to face him and read out her victim impact statement. The court heard the physical and psychological impact on her have been far-reaching and profound.
Her voice shaking and fighting back tears, she said: "In many ways I still can't believe this happened. I was so besotted, so much in love with Steven.
"We had been together for over a year and planned the rest of our lives together. Now I have to live with the knowledge the man I loved and tried to help and believed was my soulmate could turn into a monster and attack me, telling me when I begged for my life he would have to finish me off. I feel so naïve, stupid and manipulated.
"This was a cowardly, completely unprovoked attack. He came at me with a knife from behind, stabbing me in the back so ferociously he broke at least one knife. As I begged him for my life I told him we could talk about anything. He told me he would have to finish me off as he was not going to prison.
"That stays with me. I hear it every day in my head. I think it will stay with me for the rest of my life.
"As he said those words he took a bigger meat knife out of the drawer and came at me with it, stabbing me in my chest, causing me to fall backwards into the kitchen cupboard.
"I pleaded with him to think about our families and children and to phone his son. He rang his son while kneeling in front of me crying and apologising to him while I whispered for him to call an ambulance. Steven had every opportunity to ring for an ambulance but instead he left me to die with a knife embedded in my chest.
"I was sitting in a large pool of my own blood. He locked all the doors to prevent anyone getting in to help me.
"I realise how miraculous it is I survived my injuries. Some people die from one stab wound, I had 29.
"I don't want anyone else to go through what I went through. He is a manipulative man, a dangerous man, a ticking timebomb. He is too arrogant and delusional to admit he is not safe to be around. He will snap again one day and I'm very worried if he is released he will continue to present a danger to others. The next victim might not escape with their life."
She said she and her son have to apply creams to her scars every day which is a constant reminder of the attack and she still has a piece of bone in her lung after the forceful stabs broke ribs. She also had to undergo heart surgery after the sack around her heart was damaged.
They began a relationship in late 2019 and Martina thought he was "charming, generous and thoughtful" and a successful businessman. After eight months together, she agreed for him to move into her home in Gateshead.
She then noticed changes in the behaviour and mood of Wood, who told her he had bipolar disorder. He had been cautioned by police after smashing her phone and damaging her car in June 2020 on the day she was launching a bakery delivery business. He apologised but there were other outbursts, particularly when he had not taken his medication.
They were on holiday in the Canaries on Christmas Day 2020 when he became enraged and removed all of her belongings from the villa, forcing her to fly back home.
On May 21 last year, they were at home and had walked the dog and the atmosphere was strained. She was being treated for panic attacks and anxiety as a result of his behaviour and her therapist had advised her to go out in such situations. She invited Wood for walk and he said she "sometimes talks s***" and said she was not to go for a walk.
Jolyon Perks, prosecuting, said: "She went to the shoe cupboard to get ready and heard the cutlery drawer open then glimpsed a flashing blade and saw red. She was not sure what he was doing then it dawned on her she was being stabbed.
"She tried to calm him down and bring him to his senses. He was not for talking, other than to say he would finish her off and would not go to prison for it."
She was stabbed repeatedly, mainly to the back and he then got a larger knife and plunged it into her chest, where it became embedded in her sternum and she fell back into a kitchen cupboard. She urged him to ring his son and could hear him apologising to him and she managed to tell the son to get help.
Wood then left the house, calmly locking all the doors and putting her keys in a plant pot outside to stop the emergency services getting in to help his stricken partner.
Despite being seriously injured and having a knife sticking out of her chest, Martina managed to get to her phone to make a harrowing 999 call, saying she was hiding in the cupboard and bleeding to death. Police had to smash a window to gain entry and rescue her.
Her stab wounds included eight to base of her neck and top of her back, one to her lower back and four to her shoulders. Some of the back wounds were inflicted with sufficient force to fracture ribs.
A pathologist said it was "remarkable" none of them had entered her heart, spine or major blood vessel and said most people would not be expected to survive as many stab wounds to the torso.
Wood, 54, who has a previous convicted for causing GBH to a previous partner in 2003 by pushing her downstairs, causing multiple pelvic fractures and for which he got a suspended sentence, pleaded guilty to attempted murder. After the attack he jumped off the Redheugh Bridge in a suicide attempt and was seriously injured.
Judge Paul Sloan QC said he poses a high level of danger to the public and jailed him for life and told him he must serve a minimum of 12 years before he can even be considered for release. He also imposed an indefinite restraining order. Judge Sloan told him: "It was a sustained and particularly brutal attacking during which multiple stab wounds were inflicted, the attack occurring in her own home, where she should have been safe and it involved an abuse of trust and power."
The court heard Wood, who used to be in the army, was suffering a mental health disorder but was not taking his medication as he should have been at the time.
Christopher Knox, defending, said: "He is absolutely distraught over what he has done. He was not in his right mind. This was not a cold-blooded attack in which he had an intention to kill, he is at a loss to explain why this murderous attack occurred."
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