‘MY HELL AT HANDS OF STALKER’
OBSESSIVE EX-BOYFRIEND STABBED HIMSELF IN NECK OUTSIDE HORRIFIED VICTIM’S HOME
A MOTHER watched in horror as her obsessed stalker stabbed himself with a steak knife in the neck outside her home.
Wendy Miles, 55, was living in fear when her former Facebook friend Keith Richmond, 59, began to follow her – and even hide in bushes next to her seaside flat.
A court heard she left her home to see him sitting in his car with a steak knife sticking out of his throat.
Ex-army medic Wendy said: “There was bright red blood everywhere and he was drifting in and out of consciousness.
“It was horrific. I called an ambulance, then I went back downstairs to try to stem the bleeding.”
Wendy told of her horror after Richmond pleaded guilty to harassment and was given a five-year restraining order to stay away from her.
Wendy struck up a relationship after Richmond sent her a Facebook message and they were together for a year.
But unlucky-in-love Wendy dumped pub landlord Richmond after he became controlling during their relationship.
Magistrates in Cardiff heard his behaviour escalated over a number of months – and left Wendy feeling “disturbed”.
Prosecutor Monique McKevitt said: “She made it clear she wanted no more contact from him and wanted to move on.
“She went on to form another relationship, but Richmond could not accept that.”
He then repeatedly turned up at her home in Barry, sent her Facebook messages and left voicemails on her phone.
The besotted ex would also whisper down the phone: “If I can’t have you then no-one else will have you either.”
Richmond missed his jugular vein by millimetres and was lucky to be alive after the shocking incident in April last year.
He was released from hospital three days later and was back outside Wendy’s flat.
Richmond, of St Nicholas, Vale of Glamorgan, was sentenced to 16 weeks in prison suspended for 18 months and handed a five-year restraining order by magistrates.
After the hearing, Wendy said: “As the months passed, I noticed Keith liked to be in control.
“He would get jealous when I talked to his regular customers in his pub and accused me of fancying them.
“I began to see less and less of my friends and he would even tag along to a night out at the bingo.
“He hated me spending time with my army friends, a lot of them male, so I stopped doing that too.”
Wendy finally plucked up the courage to break off the relationship but Richmond said: “I can’t live without you.”
Wendy said: “One night in my flat alone I saw Keith outside my flat. He was looking right up at my window.
“I watched as he’d walk and then hide behind a bush.”
Mum of one Wendy added: “I don’t believe any restraining order will stop him if he wants to stalk me.
“I just hope he has learned his lesson and moves on with his life and leaves me to lead mine in peace.”
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