A monster who tried to murder a woman he met on a night out was branded an "animal" as he was caged for 29 years.
Matthew Stevens made every woman's worst nightmare come horrifically true, subjecting his victim to a sustained ordeal after she refused to have sex with him. He kicked and stamped on her, stripped her naked, dragged her into wooded undergrowth and tried to finish her off before taking her jewellery as a trophy and leaving her to die.
A court heard she was found "by a miracle" early one morning last March by a dog walker in Brunswick Village, Newcastle, and she was so badly injured police initially thought she was dead. She was hypothermic, had multiple injuries and her face and head were so swollen she was unrecognisable.
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As Stevens, 28, who was found guilty of attempted murder, was jailed, his victim bravely went into the witness box at Newcastle Crown Court to read out an impact statement. Fighting back tears she said: "The past year has been a living nightmare.
“I was previously a bubbly, confident person who enjoyed going out. I was the life and soul of the party. How my life has changed. I feel a shadow of my former self.
“After the attack I moved back in with my parents because I was unable to look after myself. It took me a long time to even look at myself in the mirror after leaving hospital.
“People were telling me how swollen my face was but it took a long time to pluck up the courage to look myself. It took months for the swelling to go down.
“I always took pride in my appearance. Now I feel ugly and feel I no longer look the same. I no longer enjoy getting ready to go out. I often stay at home in my pyjamas because home is where I feel safe."
She added: “I recently started to suffer from flashbacks and wake up in the night sweating. For months I had no memory of what happened. He made me endure the court case and I finally got to hear what he did to me.
“This was a man I had just met that night but later he went on to leave me for dead and suffering horrendous injuries. The fact he did not do the decent thing and put me and my family through the court case has had a massive impact.
"I was unaware and satisfied I just couldn’t remember. Now I know the full facts which I believe has led to my flashbacks, which I didn’t suffer previously. Hearing what that animal did to me has resulted in my feeling consistent fear on a daily basis.
“For someone to nearly kill me, having never met me before and giving him no reason whatsoever to hurt me, leaves me constantly looking over my shoulder.”
The court heard the woman had been out in Newcastle city centre on the night of March 10 last year, where she met Stevens through mutual friends. CCTV shows an altercation between them at one point in a bar but they ended up leaving town in a taxi together in the early hours.
A cabbie who picked them up said she was much more drunk than him and repeatedly told Stevens she wanted to go home to Gateshead but he directed the taxi in the opposite direction, towards his parents' home in Brunswick Village. He was on the phone to his parents, trying to arrange to take the woman there but was told he could not do so.
By 3.16am they were on Drysdale Court, Brunswick Village, and he took her off the road down a narrow path to a field close to the A1, the first scene of his violent attack.
The victim has no memory of what happened but her bloodied and damaged clothing was later found on the field, as were some of her hair extensions which had been pulled out. Her phone, which had blood on it, was also there. She was found in a nearby wooded area, having been dragged there by Stevens.
Gavin Doig, prosecuting, said: “This was, say the prosecution a brutal, sustained and shocking assault on the victim. She was left lying after it by the defendant, naked in woodland close to the A1 north of Newcastle.
“Her clothing had been stripped from her by the defendant during the attack. He then dragged her across the field away from the nearby housing, to a more secluded location to continue and conclude his attack upon her.”
Mr Doig adds: “She was left lying unconscious or with reduced consciousness and in a badly injured state, outside, exposed to the elements until she was found, quite by chance, by a person walking his dog that morning at about 6am.”
Mr Doig added: “The prosecution case is the defendant violently attacked her at scene one and then removed her clothing from her by force, hence the damage to the clothing and bloodstaining on it. She was dragged by him in an injured state so he could continue the attack on her.”
Some of the woman’s jewellery was later found by police in Stevens’ home. Mr Doig: “The prosecution say these items were taken by the defendant as a trophy, believing she was dead.”
Mr Doig adds: “The prosecution say she was subjected to a sustained and brutal attack at both sites. There was heavy bloodstaining on the defendant’s footwear. He repeatedly stamped on her and kicked into her when she was in a prone position, when she was already injured and bleeding.
“There was bloodstaining on his coat consistent with him punching her repeatedly when she was already injured and bleeding."
Dog walker, Steven Hillier, initially saw the woman’s clothing and belongings on the field and when his dogs showed an interest in the wooded area, he went to investigate. Mr Doig said: “As he peered into undergrowth he heard he sound of moaning and saw a naked woman on the ground.
“She turned her head towards him but, such was the level of swelling to her eye, he couldn’t see whether her eyes were open or closed.”
Mr Hillier called 999 and when police first arrived they thought the woman was dead until it became apparent she was semi-conscious and shivering uncontrollably as she was hypothermic. Mr Doig said: “Her face was so grossly swollen she was unrecognisable.”
She had bleeding into both eyeballs, multiple lacerations to her face and ears, her tongue piercing had been ripped out, her eye socket was fractured, her nose was fractured and she had a punctured lung. There were 38 sites of injury, not including the injuries to her bones and her lower lip had been torn from the bone.
Mr Doig said there was “gratuitous degradation” in stripping her during the “sustained attack”.
The court hears Stevens has 13 previous convictions, including for battery to former partners and harassment. For the attempted murder he was jailed for 29 years with an extended licence of a further three years. He was also given a restraining order banning him from contacting the victim.
Judge Robert Adams said the woman was “brutally attacked” after refusing to have sex before being abandoned, with Stevens “either believing she was dead or that she would die”. He added that she was found by Mr Hillier “by a miracle”.
Judge Adams said: “The photographs shown in this case were truly horrific." He added: “This was a brutal and sustained attack of enormous violence but there is no evidence of sadistic conduct.
“There was great persistence in his attempts to kill and he clearly thought he had succeeded. Clearly the defendant is currently dangerous.
Toby Hedworth KC, defending, said: “He knows he is going to spend a considerable amount of time in custody. He is doing anger management classes in prison.”
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