A VIOLENT ex-partner has been jailed for stabbing his former lover with a shard from a broken ashtray after she turned down his drunken offer of sex, court reporter Ted Davenport writes.

Matthew Yarde dragged the terrified woman across her front room floor so roughly that she was left with carpet burns and then attacked her again in the kitchen when she complained about his behaviour.

He smashed an ashtray on a worktop and then drove a sharp piece of the broken pot downwards into the top of her hand, leaving her with an injury that needed surgery on severed tendons.

Yarde then walked out of the flat, leaving her to seek help from neighbours who tried to staunch the bleeding before realising she was so badly injured they had to call an ambulance.

He had spent the night drinking at the Victoria Gate and Crown and Sceptre pubs in Taunton before he invited himself back to her home in the Firepool area of Taunton.

She agreed to let him in if he was not too drunk but then realised he was ‘steaming drunk’.

She told a jury at Exeter Crown Court that he had wanted to have sex and his mood had turned nasty when she said no, initiating the attack as they sat on a sofa.

He told the jury she was uninjured when he left and must have been stabbed by another male caller.

Yarde, aged 41, denied wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm but was found guilty by a jury at Exeter two months ago.

He was jailed for five years by Recorder Mr Malcolm Galloway, who told him: “You had previously been in a relationship with her and the domestic context makes this offence more serious.

“It represented a violation of trust and you have previously been convicted of violence against her.

“The offence was committed while you were under the influence of alcohol and in her own home, where she was entitled to feel safe.

“I do not accept you are remorseful. You made the decision to have a trial when you now say that you could not remember anything.”

During the trial, the 44-year-old victim told the jury she had been in an on-off relationship with Yarde in the past but were not together at the time of the attack in the early hours of August 5 last year.

She said she had seen Yarde briefly in the Victoria Gate pub and after she got home, she received a Facebook message from him asking to visit her.

She agreed but told him not to come round if he was drunk.

When he arrived she realised that he was intoxicated and there was an argument that led to the attack.

She said: “He pulled me by my hair as he went to the kitchen. He probably pulled out some extensions and I had a carpet burn. I said ‘what did you do that for?’ I was quite angry at that point.

“He did not respond much. We were both standing in the kitchen exchanging words and then he picked up a brown clay pot that I use as an ashtray and smashed it on the side and picked a piece up and smashed it into my hand, which was on the counter.

“He used a lot of force, and my hand was running with blood. I screamed and cried. It was very painful and shocking. I ran to the bathroom to dress it and try to contain the blood. He pretty much just scarpered.”

Yarde left his phone at the flat where it was found by police. He gave evidence they argued after she found messages from another woman on his phone.

He said he left the flat, forgetting to take his phone, but denied attacking her in any way. He said she had been fine when he left, and he had no idea how she sustained the injury.

The jury were also told that he had a previous conviction for punching his ex in the face during an argument outside the Victoria Gate in 2018.

Miss Ligiea Girard, defending, said Yarde has been addressing his drinking and had been working until he was arrested and held in custody for breaking bail conditions.