Chesterfield man who stabbed partner 21 times while she slept is charged with attempted murder and jailed

Macauley Cummins, of Cauldon Drive, Holme Hall, attacked his then partner with a serrated knife while she was asleep in bed at her home in Brampton in the early hours of Sunday, July 3 2022.

A neighbour alerted emergency services at around 12.30am having found a woman with injuries in a garden off Mayell Close.

The woman managed to get out of the property and onto the street to find help, but was struggling having suffered wounds to her back, neck, knee and arms, and a punctured lung.

Cummins left the scene but was stopped by officers in a car in Holme Hall around 1.15am, and he was arrested.

The 26-year-old was charged the same day and remanded to prison.

He pleaded guilty to attempted murder and was sentenced at Derby Crown Court on Friday, March 10 to 22 years imprisonment and was given an indefinite restraining order to protect the victim.

In her statement about the affect the attack has had on her life, she said: “I put my trust in someone who I thought loved me, what a mistake that was. I do not fully understand and have not come to terms with why he did or what he intended to do to me. I am not sure I ever will.

“I still suffer from nightmares, sleepless nights and dark thoughts on a daily basis about what happened, and what could have happened.”

She added that she now suffers from depression and PTSD and has lasting scars on her body that she tries to cover up as she feels embarrassed to go out with them on show.

Detective Constable Jonathan Careless of our public protection team said: “This was no doubt a truly horrific ordeal for the victim and has left her with physical injuries and trauma that she will bear for the rest of her life, and we would like to thank her for the courage she has shown throughout the investigation and court process.

“Cummins is now, quite rightly, behind bars for a significant length of time for his despicable actions, and I hope that it will offer the victim some closure.”

DC Careless added: “I would like to offer thanks to the community who helped the victim in the moments before the emergency services arrived, and to those who later assisted the police investigation.

“We’d urge anyone who is in abusive relationship, or anyone who suspects someone they know to be in an abusive relationship, to reach out and speak to us.”

Following the incident, Derbyshire Police reminded that domestic abuse can affect both women and men and can occur in same-sex relationships. It can be physical, emotional, sexual, or financial. It can be repeated, random or habitual, and is used to control a partner.

Police appealed to any victims of domestic abuse, and anyone who knows such victims, to contact them or to reach out to organisations that can help victims of domestic violence.