A woman was subjected to a terrifying ordeal when her former boyfriend wrecked her Chelmsford flat.

Adrian Bliss, 33, had a kitchen knife and, when Lucy King tried to prevent him harming himself, she ended up in hospital for stitches to head and body injuries, Chelmsford Crown Court heard last week.

Bliss, of Rubens Gate, Chelmsford, stood trial in October on a charge of wounding Miss King with intent.

The trial was halted when she said that she was injured while preventing Bliss from self-harm. Bliss then admitted wounding, for which he was jailed for 30 months on Thursday.

Judge Ben Pearson said that Bliss wanted to resume his relationship with Miss King when they met on June 26. When she refused, he slashed her furniture and curtains with a kitchen knife.

It was a terrifying experience for her and he threatened to harm himself. She was seriously cut while preventing this, and her flat was covered in blood.

Alan May, mitigating, said that Miss King felt she was partly to blame by inflaming Bliss with a remark about his father's suicide -- a subject about which he was very sensitive.

Although she had suffered a terrifying experience, she was a strong character who genuinely cared about Bliss and said that he sometimes lost control and had an impulsive disorder. Doctors said that he was not mentally ill, but had behaviour problems.

Bliss has previous convictions for offences of violence.

Judge Pearson told him that he admired Miss King, and her evidence had halved the sentence. He added that, with courage and determination, he could overcome his problems.

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