A mum was left with her lip "hanging like a flap" when her then-boyfriend attacked her after a night out.
Stacey Hall, 31, needed 10 stitches and surgery following a series of blows by violent now-ex Phillip McGlinchey, 31.
He also put his hands around her neck until she couldn't breathe and bashed her face off a kitchen bench months earlier - which Stacey eventually confided in friends during a night out.
But once she got home, and McGlinchey found out, he attacked her while she was in the bathroom.
A neighbour heard Stacey's terrified screams and called the police who arrested McGlinchey, a personal trainer.
Chef Stacey paid £160 for private surgery on her lip after feeling ''disfigured'' following the attack.
McGlinchey pleaded guilty to inflicting grievous bodily harm and assault occasioning actual bodily harm at Newcastle Crown Court in May 2022.
He was jailed for three years and three months and the judge handed him an indefinite restraining order against the victim.
But now Stacey has discovered he is due to be released under the Home Detention Curfew (HDC) scheme after serving just nine months in jail, and she fears for her life.
The HDC is a scheme which allows some people to be released early from custody if they have a suitable address to go to. It is often called 'tagging'.
Mum-of-one Stacey, originally from Walker, Newcastle, said: "This wasn't the first time he'd been physical with me but it was the first time I'd seen my life flash before my eyes.
"I'd been at a friend's house having some casual drinks for her birthday and I'd wanted to stay a bit longer but Phillip wasn't happy about it - coming to get me an hour later.
"We walked into the house and out of nowhere I felt a blow to my face and my life flashed before my eyes.
"I'd just taken my make-up off in the bathroom and out of no where, he came for me.
"To this day, I don't know if it was his foot or a glass but when I looked down, there was blood everywhere.
"I was screaming for him to stop but he just continued while spitting abuse at me.
''Whilst the physical damage was awful, it's nothing compared to the emotional and mental trauma I've been left with.
"He's a spineless human who doesn't deserve to be let out after only nine months."
The couple met in a pub in September 2018, but after three months went on to date other people.
Both single again in February 2020, they got back together.
Stacey said: "He was really charming and we had a good laugh.
"After six months he moved in with me and we were so happy but in December his true colours started to show.
"Around Christmas 2020 he gave me two black eyes and a broken nose after we'd hosted a couples night.
"One of my friend's partner had commented on the way he spoke to me and I addressed it with him after.
"He didn't take it well and attacked me for the first time.
"He wrapped his hands around my neck until I couldn't breathe and pushed me so hard that I hit the kitchen bench causing my nose to pop.
"I was distraught but he promised that it wouldn't happen again and I took him back but I became a shell.
"When friends asked me what had happened to my face I lied and said I'd slipped but I don't think they bought it.
"I'd tread on egg shells around him because I was scared he'd attack me again."
Terrified about telling her friends and family the truth, Stacey began to isolate herself from those close to her.
But in April 2021, while having dinner with friends, she broke down and told her close girlfriends the truth.
Stacey said: "My mates had seen a change in my behaviour; I'd become quiet and one had noticed bruises on my face from where he'd hit me a couple of months before.
"When they asked if he had been hitting me, I just broke down and told my friends the truth.
"I felt relief when telling them what had happened but if I only knew what I had waiting for me when I got home."
After asking McGlinchey to pick her up an hour later than had been arranged, she waited until they were back home before finally confronting him.
Stacey said: "I let him know I'd told my friends about how violent he was and that I was scared.
''I'd hoped he'd listen and take me seriously, but out of nowhere I felt a blow to my face and my life flashed before my eyes.
"I ran into the bedroom to get my phone to call the police but Phillip had already hid it in his back pocket.
"He then continued to attack my face, which is when he basically ripped my lip apart.
"I managed to wrestle my phone from him and called an ambulance and they told me that a neighbour had already heard my screams.''
Police arrived at her home and arrested McGlinchey.
Stacey said: "As soon as he heard the buzzer to my flat, he ran down the stairs out the flat and past the police on the stairs but he was met by officers at the building's exit.
"As soon as the police saw my bloody face, they knew exactly what had happened."
Stacey had emergency surgery on her lip and 10 stitches.
She said she struggled to speak and eat for eight months.
In September 2021, Stacey had private plastic surgery after feeling ''so self-conscious'' about the injury to her lip.
Stacey said: "I was in so much pain for weeks and weeks and I unable to look at my reflection.
"I just sat in my house crying because I couldn't bare to go outside.
"His attack has left me with severe anxiety and even now my lip isn't right because the scar tissue is still very visible.
"I tried to go back to work after three months, but I couldn't stay in my role because of the affects of the attack.
"I still get nightmares of the whole thing to this day.
"He's ruined my life."
Stacey relocated away from Newcastle in a bid to move on.
McGlinchey, of South Gosforth, Newcastle, pleaded guilty to inflicting grievous bodily harm and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
Judge Sarah Mallett told McGlinchey a police officer described Stacey's lip as "looking as if the top part of the lip was hanging like a flap".
Andrew Walker, defending, in court, said his client "can overreact in emotional circumstances".
He added he had looked after a son with a previous partner, and his mother.
Stacey said she got a call to say he was going to be released this month.
She said: "As [a] victim of domestic abuse, it's a massive smack in the face from the CPS.
"I'm terrified - not just for me but for other women out there who may fall for his charm like me.
"He's a narcissistic, evil human and he'll see the small portion of the sentence he's served as just a smack on the wrists.
"What's stopping him from doing this to another woman and ruining her life too?
"He'll be cracking on with his life but I'm trapped in a cage of the trauma inflicted by him."
Anyone affected by this story can reach out to Women's Aid on 0808 2000 247 or by visiting www.nationaldahelpline.org.uk
