A mum who was locked inside a house with a jilted ex-lover - who threatened to chop her head off and 'take it around the street' - feared she wouldn't make it out alive.
Jerrel Coppell, 24, trapped the woman, along with his own sister, in his house in Wythenshawe, after she went round to tell him that their short relationship was over.
Manchester Crown Court previously heard how Coppell flew into a rage, telling his petrified victim he would chop her legs off with a samurai sword, so she couldn't leave the house.
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The thug grabbed her neck and squeezed, and told her he'd chop her head off and parade it around the street. The woman was only able to escape after she promised to contact him again.
He was handed a lengthy community order after pleading guilty to an offence of affray. A judge said he believed Coppell had a better chance of rehabilitation outside of prison.
Speaking to the M.E.N. following his sentencing, the victim, who asked to remain anonymous to protect her children, said the attack had traumatised her so much, she is now scared of her own shadow, and unable to spend time on her own.
"It has massively affected me and I have to have counselling twice a week," she said. "Even when I'm just at home I feel anxious, and I have to have someone with me all the time.
"I have always been a strong and confident woman but after what he did to me I am a different person. My family always ask why I flinch but that's me now - I'm scared of my own shadow.
"I had to go for an appointment and I decided to go on my own but I had to call someone to pick me up because I had a massive panic attack. I haven't been able to be on my own since."
The court heard that Coppell and the woman had been a short lived relationship, and had remained friends. But she became concerned he hadn't realised it was over, so went to his house on January 11 last year to make it clear.
After telling him, Coppell began arguing with his sister, and as both women went to leave he locked the front door.
Ellen Shaw, prosecuting, told the court: "She was then subjected to him shouting at her whilst she sat on the sofa. Every time she tried to get up he pushed her back down and said she wasn't going anywhere.
"He then ran upstairs and ran down with a sword and shouted at her saying that he would chop her legs off so she couldn't leave the house. He then said he would chop her head off and take the head with him around the street."
The woman was able to escape to the kitchen, during which she told him: “You’re f***ing sick”. Coppell then ran towards her, grabbed her neck and began to squeeze, the prosecutor said.
He then pulled her to the floor before allowing her to leave, only if she promised to contact him again. She said she would in order to get away from him, and managed to run away. The following day she texted him to say not to contact her again.
Recalling the events of that night, the woman said she feared she wasn't going to leave his house alive. "On TV when they say your life flashes before your eyes it really does," she said.
"As he was squeezing my neck I just thought of everything that was important. In that moment I didn't think he was going to stop, I still don't know why he did."
"I have moved away now.
"It all feels like it happened last month not last year, it's so fresh. I just want to get away from it all and be able to move on with my children."
Defending, Gwen Henshaw said Coppell had "significant" mental health difficulties. She said he now realises that 'he needs to step back from intimate relationships and work on himself.'
Sentencing, Recorder Jason MacAdam said: "This was sustained violence with the intention to cause her fear that she would be subject to very serious violence. That is what happened, she did fear that, anybody in her position would. What you did affected every aspect of her life."
The judge said he was aware that Coppell had ‘complex mental health difficulties’ which he would receive help for if given a community order.
The victim said she is "terrified" of the prospect of bumping into her attacker. "If I see him in the street I don't know what I would do. I would panic, especially if I was with my kids," she said.
"If he hurts anyone other women at least he is known to the police now. They won't have to go through everything I have to prove what he did to me."
Coppell was handed a three-year community order and ordered to complete 20 days of rehabilitation activity requirements.
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