As her controlling partner stabbed her 29 times, Martina Turner realised she would have to put her terror aside to save her own life.
Manipulative Steven Wood turned on the college lecturer, who is known as Tina, at her Gateshead home launching a frenzied attack during which he told her he would "finish" her "off".
But as survival mode kicked in brave Tina somewhere managed to stay calm, persuading her attacker to phone his son and whispering for help down the phone.
Read more: 'Charming soulmate' turned into 'monster' and tried to murder partner in frenzied Gateshead attack
Then, with a large kitchen knife still embedded in her chest Tina was able to hide in a cupboard until help arrived as evil Wood locked her in the house leaving her for dead. Wood was arrested after plunging into the Tyne from the Redheugh Bridge.
Today as he was jailed for life for attempted murder, Tina has told her incredible story of survival.
And the 53-year-old has revealed her determination to understand why the man she shared her life with turned to such brutal violence.
Tina said: "He said he had to finish me off'. That is a sentence I will never forget. I never ever thought a person could be capable of doing that.
"I have no feelings towards that man now. My brain has switched it off. I just feel empty. There's no hate and no pity, I just want to know 'why'.
"My biggest worry is his next victim might not get away.. He should be locked up forever. He's not somebody who is safe to be on the streets."
Tina, who was born in Germany and moved to the UK around 30 years ago, met Wood online around two years before the May 2021 attack. The couple's relationship deepened quickly and due to Covid restrictions Tina invited Wood, who was living in County Durham at the time, to move into her house in Winlaton Mill.
"We hit it off straight away," she said. "He was funny, outgoing and very generous. Now I think maybe the first red flag should have been he was too good to be true. But hindsight is a good word.
Wood would regularly shower mum-of-three Tina with expensive gifts, and even brought a house in the village for her son to rent.
"He brought expensive jewellery, he helped my son find a job and he would fix things in the house," she said.
But Tina saw a glimpse of Wood's true colours when after an argument he smashed her phone and scraped her car, then threatened to take his own life.
When she called police she was told her partner did have a criminal record, but she still remained unaware that he had previous for domestic violence. And after Wood confided in Tina, who works with autistic students, that he suffered from bi-polar disorder she agreed to give him another chance.
"I think it's in my nature to give people a second chance," she said. "Up until then there hadn't been anything like that. It did come as a shock."
Compassionate Tina tried her best to help Wood, but she began to feel more and more unsafe around him.
"I wanted to see if he would get better," she explained. "He basically did everything he should have done. I thought he was trying. I wanted to know how to help him and to understand bi-polar."
Life improved for the couple and by May 2021 they were planning a trip to Europe in which they would collect Tina's mum from Germany and they drive her to Helsinki in Finland to visit other families members.
But Tina said Wood started to become agitated over the uncertainty about foreign travel restrictions due to Covid.
"He brought a brand new Mercedes for that trip," she said. "But he got a bit upset because Boris Johnson hadn't made a final decision about travelling abroad. He got himself in a right state about it.
"He hated authority. He didn't like other people to be in control. Everything was up in the air. He was starting to lose control"
Tina also discovered later that Wood had not taken his medication at that time.
"He had become really arrogant and full or himself," she said. "I could feel a change."
On May 21 Tina and Wood watched the news together in the kitchen while they ate, hoping for some certainty about their trip.
But Tina could sense something was very wrong with her partner and decided it would be best to leave him alone for a while.
"Somehow I could feel unease," she said. "So I said 'I'm just going out for a while."
When Wood told her he was "feeling right" Tina suggested he go for a bike ride or take their dog out for a walk, and told him she was going to go out.
But then Wood flipped, armed himself with a kitchen knife and stabbed Tina from behind.
"I can remember him shouting from behind me; 'you go nowhere'," she said. "Then he got the knife out. I didn't register what had happened, until I saw the blood running down my T-shirt on the front. I turned round and said; 'what are you doing?"
However, Wood continued his ferocious attack, knifing Tina repeatedly until the blade broke.
But Wood then just armed himself with another knife.
As mum-of-three Tina desperately tried to defend herself with her hands and arms she attempted to reason with Wood, asking him to talk to her and telling him to think of his family.
But wood then got a large Jamie Oliver kitchen knife out and uttered words Tina says will stay with her for the rest of her life.
"He said; 'I need to finish you off because I'm not going to prison for you,'" she said. "I begged for my life. At that point I thought, I needed to be really smart. I think you just go into survival mode and tell yourself not to panic now because any movement could be your last."
"I suggested he phone his son, because his son is everything to him. He grabbed his phone and stabbed me with the Jamie Oliver knife in the chest.
Tina tried to escape Wood's attack by hiding in a cupboard, but as she did so she fell backwards, breaking two ribs."
"I tried to against the tumble drier, and he held on to me with the knife while he spoke to his son on the phone," Tina continued. "He broke down, cried and said; 'I have done something really bad.'
Meanwhile Tina tried to whisper down the phone asking Wood's son to call an ambulance and telling him she had been stabbed. Then Wood let go of the knife and left the house, locking both the back and front doors as he went.
The evil attacker even hid Tina's key under a plant pot outside when he left. Locked in her home alone with a knife embedded in her chest, Tina realised she would have to get help quickly if she was to survive.
And she believes a twist of fate saved her life as she realised her phone, which she usually keeps plugged into its charger on the kitchen bench, was in fact in her handbag in the cupboard with her.
"My hands were very very slippery from all the blood but I managed to get my phone out, put it on the electricity meter box, and dial 999," said Tina. "A really lovely woman stayed with me on the phone until the paramedics came. At that point I hadn't realised he had locked me in."
Paramedics from the North East Ambulance Service and a helicopter from the Great North Air Ambulance Service were sent to the scene. After breaking a window to get to Tina emergency services decided she would be taken to the Royal Victoria Infirmary (RVI) by road.
"The paramedics came through the window and rescued me," said Tina. "All i can remember is saying 'I want to see my children grow up'.
"I think that makes you really strong and focused on surviving."
When Tina arrived at hospital medics discovered she had been stabbed 29 times and had wounds over her entire body, including her heart, spine, and legs.
Meanwhile Wood was also being taken to the RVI after being found under the Redheugh Bridge by police after attempting to take his own life.
Tina spent six weeks in hospital and underwent multiple operations.
During her treatment medical staff gave her a false name to keep her safe from Wood. And Tina began to realise just how lucky she was to be alive.
"I can remember the surgeon saying; 'I just need to get the knife out of you and stitch you all up'," she said. "The knife punctured my outer heart sack. The surgeon explained he had to cut me open to see if any other organs were damaged."
Tina was eventually well enough to return home. But today, more than a year later, the once confident and independent woman is still struggling with the trauma of the terrifying attack.
She added: "It will take me a long, long time to trust again."
Read next:
'I never felt we got justice' - Melissa Tate's dad welcomes new life sentences for killer drivers
