12 December 2023 , 16:15
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A brave mum has shared the moment her "narcissistic” husband locked her inside the outbuilding of their house before he threatened to "chop her up" with a knife.
Victoria Jackson, 42, from Middlesbrough, revealed what she thought was her final moments after Anthony Young, 47, launched a brutal attack and told her he would kill her with a kitchen knife.
The domestic abuse survivor decided to speak out after Young was sentenced to 27 months in prison earlier this month at Teesside Crown Court. Shocking CCTV footage showed the dad-of-four holding a knife after he locked her in the outbuilding, which was used as a bar, on the night of the incident in January 2022.
Victoria and Anthony first met in 2012 and got married six years later (Evening Gazette)The 47-year-old had been drinking when he punched, headbutted and choked her before he "dragged" her across multiple rooms after they had a row. The court heard how he crept back into the home following the argument. Young, who got together with Victoria in 2012, sickenly told her "you're going to die tonight", before he grabbed a knife from the kitchen to "stroke her arms and legs, threatening to chop her up," reports Teesside Live.
Victoria, a student nurse at Teesside University, said she married Young six years after they first met. She added that she had always been friends with his sister and the relationship blossomed from there. However, Young’s violent behaviour started just months into the relationship. "It started eight months in with him - that was when he first hit me,” she said. “I thought he wouldn't do it again but then it just kept happening all the time.” She described the whole attack as “really frightening” as she was genuinely scared for her life. Victoria told how the attack first began upstairs in the house and Young dragged her into the kids’ bedroom as the children were staying at a family member’s house. "He kicked me down the stairs and headbutted me," she said.
Baby boy has spent his life in hospital as doctors are 'scared' to discharge him
Victoria was left with injuries after she was headbutted (Evening Gazette)
The mum was covered in bruises after the incident (Evening Gazette)She was then dragged into the bar and locked her in."He had me in the bar - it felt like a lifetime,” she said. When Young left, Victoria made her escape bid by climbing through the window. However, Young caught her and forced her back into the bar. Victoria, a mum to two girls aged nine and five by Young and another 18-year-old daughter, told how he then picked up the knife and began “stroking her arms and legs with it”. Speaking about her ordeal, she said: “You couldn’t write it. I had to be nice to him to get away from him. I asked him to take me to the hospital [because of the head injury] but I didn’t report it to the hospital because I didn’t want social services involved.”
Victoria’s sister went round to her home the day after the attack and saw her injuries. “Why haven’t you rang the police?” she asked her. Victoria was then persuaded to report her abusive husband’s violence. He was arrested and the couple’s relationship then came to an end - and Victoria’s abuse stopped.
She described her ex-husband as “emotionless”. “I’d always have to say sorry after an argument. He would never take any blame. He had no emotions at all. He was always right.” The mum said that Young ‘tried to apologise on the phone’ months after the attack. But his apology was still a double-edged sword as he still maintained it was ‘her fault’.
The Teesside woman, who is also a children’s support worker, is now trying to move on with her life and is relieved that Young is behind bars. She is now completing her final year of studying after having to take a year out from her nursing studies due to the stress of the ongoing court case.
Victoria has spoken out to help other women who may find themselves in a similar situation. She wants to ‘warn women about people like that, especially if they think they are to blame and they’re not’. The determined mum has now found a “gentleman who treats her right” as she continues to move on from her trauma.