‘wE’rE bOtH dyiNG tONiGHt’
MUM REVEALS TERROR AS AXE-WIELDING EX STABBED HER AND HELD HER HOSTAGE FOR 26 HOURS FULL AMAZING STORY:
A YOUNG mum has spoken of the night she thought she was going to die at the hands of her axe-wielding ex-boyfriend as he held her hostage in her own home in a terrifying 26-hour siege.
Lisa Hurley feared she would lose her life on the night of July 24 last year after her former partner Marc Schofield, who she had suggested having ‘a break’ from following a string of rows, burst into her home in Oldham. Recalling how he stabbed her and cut her gas pipes in a bid to blow up the house as armed police gathered outside, Lisa, 28, said: “I really thought that night would be my last.”
Schofield, 30, also brandished a gun, later discovered to be an imitation firearm.
“I kept thinking about my children,” Lisa said. “I couldn’t leave them without a mum. I couldn’t allow that to be where I died.”
Eventually, after 26 hours, officers stormed in and pulled Lisa to safety.
Schofield was jailed for 17 years at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court in December after admitting two counts of possession of an imitation firearm, false imprisonment, wounding, assault occasioning actual bodily harm and criminal damage.
Supermarket worker Lisa said: “I will never forget him telling me ‘we’re both dying tonight.’”
After nearly four years with Schofield, Lisa distanced herself from him after they split up. She heard he had fallen in with a bad crowd.
Then, one day in early 2017, completely out of the blue, he wrote to her saying he was determined to get himself back on track, mentioning he was supposed to have been given a room at a hostel, but it had fallen through. Taking pity on him, Lisa agreed to let Schofield stay with her while he got back on his feet. “I made it clear that didn’t mean we were back together,” she said. “I was very strict with him to protect my children. I didn’t want him coming and going at all hours. “Marc seemed to be back to the man I’d known when we were together. Everyone kept saying they’d never seen him so happy and determined.” In time, the spark between Lisa and Marc reignited and they found themselves a couple once again. Gradually, though, the cracks began to appear. “He seemed jealous of the time I spent with my kids,” Lisa said. “I told him firmly they were my priority and if it came down to it, I would always choose them over him. “I tried my best to encourage him to go to the gym, get a hobby, get himself out of the house. “All I ever did was help him. But he didn’t want to help himself.” After a while, Lisa said Schofield asked if she could come off the pill, believing the hormonal change was to blame for their bickering.
She refused, but – completely coincidentally – then developed an allergic reaction to it, meaning she had to change to a different form of contraception.
“I think Marc wanted us to start a family together,” Lisa said. “Before I developed the reaction and had to change to the hormonal coil anyway, he even hid my pills – and when he gave them back, he’d scrawled ‘NO’ all over the boxes in huge black
All I ever did was help him. But he didn’t want to help himself Lisa Hurley
I know that deep down, it wasn’t the real Marc there that night. That’s not who he is Lisa Hurley
letters. He took the fact I wanted to continue using contraception as rejection. But I told him, ‘it’s my body, my choice.’”
Gradually, the couple argued more and more until, eventually, in July 2017, Lisa told Schofield she thought they should take a break.
Reacting with fury, Lisa said he lunged at her, dragging her to the kitchen and throwing her to the floor by her hair.
Previously, she said he had never even raised his voice to her.
Screaming for help, she prayed her neighbours would hear which, thankfully, they did. They called the police and officers soon arrived and escorted Marc away.
“Just before they left, I remembered Marc had a key to mine. Police searched him but they couldn’t find it,” Lisa said. “But they told me they would be in the area if I needed any more help.”
Reassured by their words, Lisa was just getting ready for bed when she heard a key turn in her side door – it was Schofield.
Holding the handle to stop him coming in, she frantically phoned the police to say he was back.
After he shook the door a few times to no avail, things went eerily quiet – until a huge smash rang out.
“Marc had broken the living room window. I could hear the glass crunching as he climbed inside,” Lisa said.
“The operator said to me, ‘I heard that – go upstairs and hide.’
“He came crashing through the living room door and ordered me to give him my phone. He pushed past me into the kitchen and grabbed a knife.
“He told me again to give him the phone, so I did. He tossed it up onto the landing, then just launched at me. He stabbed me in the neck, trying to get at my face.
“I was pleading with him, but I wasn’t getting through. He was so angry.”
Thankfully, Schofield stopped his attack and Lisa was able to get to her feet, just as the police arrived. As she answered the door, he fled upstairs – returning brandishing a gun.
“The officers ran out of the house, so they could radio for back up, while Marc frogmarched me into the kitchen,” said Lisa.
“At some point, he left the room, returning with an axe.”
Soon, more than 60 armed officers arrived and began to negotiate with a now wildly erratic Schofield. Over the next 26 hours, Lisa tried everything she could to calm him down as he flipped between Jekyll and Hyde personalities - one minute telling her he loved her, the next chillingly warning her, ‘we’re both dying tonight.’ While 50 houses nearby were evacuated, as a precaution, Schofield continually threatened Lisa with knives and an axe. Hours into the siege, Schofield suddenly darted to the cupboard under her stairs and began hacking away at the gas pipes, trying to fill the house with gas. “I heard a hiss as the pipe broke,” Lisa said. “I was begging him to stop, telling him there were families all around with kids in their houses, but he just told me to shut up.” Dragging Lisa upstairs, Schofield then barricaded the pair of them in her bedroom. “He forced me onto the bed beside him as we waited for the gas to take hold,” Lisa said. “He kept saying, ‘let’s just die peacefully together.’ “I was trying to keep my breathing shallow and praying the broken lounge window would mean the house didn’t fill up as fast.”
Determination eclipsing her fear, Lisa silently concocted a plan, reasoning that, if she could keep Schofield calm for long enough, he may fall asleep, giving her a window to escape in. Eventually, he began to drift off – but then a huge bang woke him.
The officers used explosives to get through the front door before swarming upstairs and pulling Lisa to freedom.
Raced to Manchester Royal Infirmary, she was treated for her injuries.
Passing sentence in December, Judge Tina Langdale told Schofield: “It was a night of terror” - praising Lisa for ‘keeping level-headed.’
Since that horrific night, Lisa has returned to the house, determined he will not make her too afraid to live there.
She said: “Although I can never forgive or forget the hell he put us through, I know that deep down, it wasn’t the real Marc there that night. That’s not who he is.
“All I want to do now is focus on building the brightest future I can for my children.”