Teacher given 12 year jail term for brutal and frenzied knife attack

A teacher who brutally stabbed another teacher after failing to accept their on-off relationship was over has been jailed for 12 years.

Matthew Jones, 29, stabbed Emma Kirk, 25, around 15 times with a knife, inflicting injuries to her neck, head and face.

Bristol Crown Court heard Jones attacked Miss Kirk because he would not accept she did not want to see him again.

The attack was so brutal and frenzied it took five men to drag Jones off his victim and even then he tried to strangle her, jurors were told.

Sam Jones, prosecuting, said the two met at university, becoming “really good friends” and later “romantically involved” by being “intimate on one or two occasions”.

The attack took place on February 26 last year in Bath, Somerset, after Miss Kirk told Jones she did not wish to see him again but agreed to meet to return gifts he had bought her.

“The attack was sustained and repeated and involved him stabbing her in the neck, face and head,” Mr Jones said.

“While on the ground he stabbed her 15 times in a brutal and frenzied attack. Witnesses described him as a ‘man possessed’.

“Both of her lungs were punctured. She tried to fight back and she suffered multiple wounds to her hands as she grabbed at the blade.

“But for the way she fought back and for the bravery of others she would have been killed.

“He stabbed her multiple times to the neck – one of the most vulnerable parts of the human body.

“It took five men to drag the defendant off her and disarm him of the knife. Even then he continued to try and grab Emma and tried to strangle her when he was being pulled back.”

An off-duty police officer, members of the public and paramedics went to assist Miss Kirk in the lane close to Dransfield Way, and administered first aid.

“But for those actions, Emma’s life would have been lost,” Mr Jones said.

“She had suffered life-threatening injuries as a result of the defendant’s attack upon her.”

Eyewitnesses filmed the aftermath of the attack and Miss Kirk can be heard saying “I am going to die”.

Mr Jones said: “He was arrested and when he was arrested, he told the police, ‘Don’t show me any respect. I am a monster. I don’t deserve it’.”

In the run-up to the incident, the defendant had turned up to her place of work and would message her wanting to meet up, the court heard.

“Emma Kirk made it clear she did not want a relationship. She described it as him having an unhealthy obsession with her,” Mr Jones said.

“He could not take her ‘no’ to him as an answer so he decided that if she did not want to be with him, she wouldn’t be with anyone else.”

Jones later told police it was Miss Kirk who had brought the knife to the scene, and he had taken it from her during a struggle in which they both ended up on the floor.

The defendant, of Ivy Avenue, Southdown, Bath, was found not guilty of attempted murder and having an article with a blade or point in a public place.

He previously admitted grievous bodily harm with intent – meaning he had intended to cause Miss Kirk serious harm but had not intended to kill her.

Michael Haynes, defending, said Jones had shown the “appropriate level of remorse that one would expect”.

“He has seen the effect of the trial upon himself and his parents and the family of Emma and Emma herself,” he said.

“He is all too conscious of what happened, and it shouldn’t have happened.”

In a victim impact statement, Miss Kirk said the impact of the attack had left her in a coma for a week.

“This was an awful episode and when I was heavily sedated, I didn’t know whether I was dead or alive,” she said.

“My family were told by the surgeon that operated on me that the fact that I had survived the attack was a miracle.

“When I first woke up in hospital, I was absolutely terrified for mine and my family’s safety.

“One of the hardest things trying to comprehend is that someone I trusted, a fellow teacher, could act in such a way.”

She added that as a result of the attack she had been unable to work for a year and had developed PTSD and depression.

Passing sentence, Judge Julian Lambert said Jones was “dangerous” and passed an extended sentence comprising of a 12-year custodial term, with an extended licence period of four years – describing it as an “extreme case”.

“There was an arrangement for you to meet and no one could have predicted what happened next which was a ferocious assault rarely seen before in the experience of the court.

“You pursued her and pulled her to the ground by her hair and while you were on top of her you stabbed her 15 times in a brutal and ferocious attack. You were described as a man possessed.

“What you did was so unpredictable and so mercilessly ferocious and persistent that I am left with the conclusion that you are dangerous.

“I have concluded that you will remain unpredictable for some considerable time.

“This was such an extreme reaction to a low level trigger that I consider that the risk is present for a considerable time to come.”

He will serve at least eight years in custody before he can apply for parole with the remainder of the sentence served on licence.

Jones was also made subject of an indefinite restraining order not to contact Miss Kirk.

Published: 09/05/2025 by Radio NewsHubClick here to read this story in full at Radio News Hub