The victim of an “obsessive” tyrant who stabbed her over 20 times during a frenzied, drug-fuelled attack said she had survived “by chance” but now faced a future ruined by her ex-partner’s violence and jealousy.
Reading her statement at Leeds Crown Court before Jake Bamber, 35, was jailed for over 20 years, the victim, who is in her 20s, fought back tears as she told the court how her life had “changed beyond recognition” since the horrific attack at her home in York.
“I had already left Jake Bamber because he was hurting me,” she said.
“I lived every day with fear. Someone I once believed loved me hunted me down and I barely escaped with (my) life.
“Although I survived, a part of me died that night and I’m no longer the person I used to be. I used to be confident, hopeful, and right now I barely recognise myself.
“The memories of that night are overwhelming. I go to sleep thinking about how close I came to dying. I remember lying on the floor, covered in blood.”
She added: “I struggle to walk any distance now. I don’t know whether I’ll be able to work again, not just because of the injuries but because of my anxiety.
“(Bamber) has continued to try and manipulate people on the outside, from prison, to try and control me, and has shown no remorse. I do not believe he should be allowed back into society. I’m terrified of him being released.”
She said that Bamber’s wicked behaviour towards her was “driven by control and obsession”.
“I survived by chance, not because he stopped,” she added. “He intended to kill me and the only reason I’m alive is luck.”
The victim’s mother told the court: “We are a close family and this has been devastating for us all. The thought of what could have happened is unbearable. She could have died.”
Judge Robin Mairs described Bamber’s offences as “sinister and chilling” and said he had become “jealous and obsessive” towards the victim.
He said that the victim’s life had “changed utterly” since the attack.
“Her confidence and hope have been replaced with fear,” he added. “You repeatedly hacked at her confidence.
“You preyed on that vulnerability and past experience. You attempted to belittle and humiliate her. The impact upon the family is immense.”
He noted the “long-term and life-altering consequences” for the victim including being unable to work or even walk very far.
“The attack was planned, deliberate and driven by control and obsession,” added Mr Mairs.
“What you did dominates their days and haunts the nights of this family.”
The judge said that although Bamber had issues with post-traumatic stress disorder, it was his use of cocaine which had made him “aggressive and unpredictable”.
He said the knife attack was “considered and planned”.
“You armed yourself with a knife, snuck into her house and waited for her,” added Mr Mairs.
“Deep-seated inadequacy fuelled your jealousy and you had decided to kill (the victim)…weeks before the attack.
“It was a prolonged attack lasting around 15 minutes. It was a determined and persistent attempt to kill. It failed, but through no lack of effort on your part. You had taken cocaine leading up to the offences.”
The judge said he found Bamber’s alleged “remorse” to be “largely performative and self-serving”.
Bamber-– who lived in Apollo Street, off Heslington Road, before being remanded – was jailed for 22 years and four months and told he would serve two-thirds of that sentence behind bars before becoming eligible for parole.
He was told that because he was a particularly dangerous offender, he would have to serve an additional five-year period on licence upon his eventual release from prison.
On January 10, Bamber broke into the victim’s home in Clifton, then hid inside a cupboard, waiting for her to return. When she arrived home, he emerged from his hiding place and stabbed her 22 times.
Prosecutor Angus MacDonald said the victim met Bamber on Snapchat in March 2023.
When they first met in person four months later, she was struck by Bamber’s “arrogance”, but the relationship started well and he moved into her home.
However, in December 2025, she fell pregnant and when she told Bamber, he became so angry she broke down in tears.
She then found evidence that Bamber had been unfaithful to her which led to an argument the following day during which he punched the bathroom door and damaged it.
“She picked up his belongings and asked him to leave,” said Mr MacDonald.
The victim later blocked his phone number, but he managed to contact her by email and he convinced her to resume their relationship. Bamber duly moved back in with her.
Bamber promised to reduce his alcohol intake and initially the relationship improved, but it didn’t last.
Between June and September last year the arguments started again and the victim realised that Bamber was still being unfaithful to her. When she confronted him about this, he became so angry he punched “what remained of the bathroom door” and “destroyed” it.
There were two more violent incidents between September and New Year’s Eve, the first of which occurred in their bedroom where the victim was sitting in front of a mirror and told Bamber the relationship had to end because “matters were getting more toxic”, added Mr MacDonald.
An argument erupted during which Bamber grabbed her head and “smashed” it into a mirror, causing the glass to break.
There was another incident on the stairs shortly afterwards when the victim told Bamber she was leaving the house, only for him to bar her way. When she tried to leave, Bamber “slapped” her head into a wall.
In early December, the victim told him to leave her house. He initially refused, but a few days later he moved out and got himself his own flat – near her house, so he could “watch and spy” on her.
He would repeatedly turn up at the victim’s home, shout through her letterbox, bang on her door and stand in her garden.
“The behaviour became increasingly extreme,” said Mr MacDonald.
“Each time she tried to drive to work, he would corner her and jump out on her in the dark. She would scream and he would reassure her.
“She began to cry and told him his behaviour was starting to scare her.”
Disregarding her desperate pleas, Bamber continued to turn up at her house and stand in the garden. On one occasion he got inside her home and ripped some clothes off her.
“On Christmas Eve she got in her vehicle with a friend to take her home,” said Mr MacDonald.
“Before they left, they saw (Bamber) standing outside the house. She locked the doors to the vehicle and tried to reverse away at speed. As she did so, he ran towards the vehicle and threw himself on it.
“He tried to open the doors, banged on the windows and screamed at her and her friend.”
Bamber “screamed” at her: “I’m going to fxxxxxx kill you.”
The victim finally managed to escape and called police. Bamber was arrested and brought in for questioning but denied all allegations.
He was released on bail on the proviso that he didn’t go to her street or near her workplace, but he ignored the injunction and continued to stalk her.
Bamber borrowed a phone from someone to contact the victim and would “listen at her letterbox”.
One day, the victim came home from work and found to her horror that Bamber had been inside her house. Chillingly, he had moved items around the house including the loft ladders.
Mr MacDonald said it was evident that Bamber had been lying in wait for the victim inside her house for several hours, most probably in the loft. The victim called police who searched her house but couldn’t find him.
On another occasion, shortly before the attempted murder, Bamber got inside the victim’s home again and removed a Hallowe’en mask from her loft. He then left the mask on her driveway to let her know he had been inside.
In January, Bamber broke into her home once more and again moved items around the house.
This “terrified” her so much she changed all the locks to her home, but she suspected that the night before she did this, he had been inside her home again.
“With her friend, she checked the loft and all the cupboards, but found nothing,” said Mr MacDonald.
“When she returned home that evening, she discovered wet footprints in the house and a ladder had been moved closer to the loft.”
Terrified, she left her home and stayed at someone else’s house that night, then had the locks changed the following day.
“Knowing (Bamber) didn’t have the keys for these locks, she felt (safe) to return home,” said Mr MacDonald.
What she didn’t know was that Bamber had been hiding inside the house for hours.
The victim was on the phone in an upstairs room, talking to a male acquaintance, when Bamber, wielding a knife, suddenly emerged from his hiding place and burst in, telling her: “Heard that. Got you!”
He then snatched the victim’s phone and stabbed her, soaking her dressing gown in blood.
The victim fell downstairs, Bamber followed her and “ripped at her hair”. At the bottom of the stairs, he stabbed her repeatedly, “inflicting blow after blow with the knife”.
“She begged him to stop,” said Mr MacDonald.
“During the attack, the knife snapped and he temporarily withdrew.”
As Bamber went looking for another knife, the victim tried to escape but the door was locked and Bamber returned with a second, larger blade.
He told her: “We are going to die together. I’m going to kill you.”
He then stabbed her repeatedly in the head and tried to “slice” her neck. He then stabbed himself, causing only superficial injury.
“After inflicting multiple blows with two knives, he left,” said Mr MacDonald.
The victim tried desperately to summon help but her lungs had collapsed and she had lost a lot of blood. She was barely conscious.
A female neighbour heard calls for help and ran to the house, climbing in through a living-room window. She saw blood smeared all over the internal walls.
She found the victim covered in blood lying near the window in her bedroom, trying to prop herself up.
“(The victim) wasn’t speaking or moving,” said Mr MacDonald.
She was taken to hospital by ambulance in a critical condition, with two collapsed lungs and 22 separate wounds to her legs, back, head, chest and hands.
Doctors drained her chest and were able to stabilise her condition. She remained in hospital but remarkably, despite suffering 22 wounds, she eventually pulled through.
Bamber was duly arrested and he too was taken to hospital for treatment to superficial, self-inflicted injuries.
He was charged with attempted murder, carrying a knife, stalking and using controlling or coercive behaviour towards the mother-of-two.
The controlling behaviour occurred between July 2023 and November 2025 and the stalking between November 2025 and January this year.
He ultimately admitted the offences and appeared for sentence today (10 April) after being remanded in custody.
Mr MacDonald said that Bamber had three previous convictions including burglary, public disorder and battery from 2016 when he headbutted another former partner in a fit of jealousy. Defence barrister Sarah Barlow said that Bamber was remorseful and had “issues” at the time of the offences including post-traumatic stress disorder.
