Debbie Goldsborough jailed for attacking her husband with 18-inch kitchen knife

Debbie Goldsborough, 53, slashed the victim about 13 times with a serrated 18-inch kitchen knife at their home in Malton.

Her husband woke to find himself covered in blood and his entire body riddled with cuts and wounds, York Crown Court heard.

“The (victim) was woken by a searing pain in his left arm and shoulder,” said prosecutor Rachel Landing.

“The light was on in the bedroom and (Goldsborough) was standing at the side of the bed and shouting. She had a long kitchen knife with an 18-inch blade.”

Their son heard shouting and went into the room, telling his mother to hand him the knife. She dropped the knife and her son picked it up and took it away.

The victim got off the bed and rang 999, giving police his address, but then Goldsborough took his phone off him and removed the batteries. She told him: “That (calling police) is a waste of time: I’m going to tell them you did it yourself.”

The victim went downstairs but Goldsborough followed him. Police called back on the landline, but Goldsborough picked up the phone and told them: “Don’t bother turning up - nothing has

happened.”

“The (victim) was frightened and shouting, ‘Help me! Please help me!’” said Mrs Landing. “He said he feared for his life.”

The victim escaped the house and walked out into the street with just his dressing gown on. Police found him and escorted him back home where they gave him first aid.

Among his catalogue of injuries were two 13cm cuts to his upper arm and shoulder, two 7cm cuts to his forearm and elbow, a 5cm cut above his wrist and two cuts to his neck. He also suffered wounds to his upper thigh and hip. The wounds were described as “superficial”, from slashes rather than stabs.

Goldsborough was arrested and hauled in for questioning but told police her husband’s wounds were self-inflicted. She maintained the hoax right up until the day of her trial, when she finally admitted wounding without intent.

The mother-of-two, of Peasey Hills Road, Malton, appeared for sentence on Friday.

The court heard that in the hours leading up to the attack on September 23 last year, the couple - who have since separated - had been in the pub where they had a blazing row.

The victim returned home without his wife, who stayed in the pub drinking. When she arrived home, her husband was asleep upstairs in his bed. Goldsborough went into the kitchen and grabbed a knife, before going upstairs to the bedroom and slashing away at her husband with the jagged blade.

“This was a repeated assault on the victim who was asleep and in drink,” said Mrs Landing.

She said that following Goldsborough’s arrest, the grandmother-of-two told police that while they were in the pub, her husband had told her he was going to leave her. She claimed she arrived home to find him covered in blood in his bed, telling police that “he’d done it himself”.

The victim said the incident had left him “really scared and vulnerable, as I don’t know what else (Goldsborough) is capable of”.

He added: “She seems to snap at the slightest thing.”

He said he “felt sorry for her because I think she has something wrong with her” and she had anger issues.

Defence lawyer Neil Cutte said that Goldsborough, aka Train, was now receiving help from an alcohol-support charity. She was an otherwise law-abiding, family woman and was now “genuinely remorseful” for her actions.

Judge Andrew Stubbs QC said it was “plain that (Goldsborough) was well in drink” when she returned home from the pub and armed herself with the knife.

He told her: “You were obviously angry and… mercilessly attacked your then husband with the large, serrate knife.

“You inflicted 13 separate injuries with that knife. You attacked him all over his body. This must have been a sustained and petrifying attack.”

Mr Stubbs blasted Goldsborough for trying to prevent the emergency services getting to her husband and then claiming his wounds were self-inflicted.

He also cast doubt on Goldsborough’s remorse, adding: “Right up until the day of trial, you were blaming your husband.”

Goldsborough was jailed for two years and seven months.