A FROME College teacher brutally stabbed a woman after failing to accept their one-off relationship was over, a court heard.

Sociology and history teacher Matthew Jones, 28, stabbed another teacher, 24-year-old Emma Kirk, around 15 times with the knife, inflicting injuries to her neck, head and face.

Bristol Crown Court heard the “angry” defendant allegedly attacked Miss Kirk because he would not accept that she did not want to see him again.

The attack was so “brutal and frenzied” it took five men to drag Jones off Miss Kirk and even then he tried to strangle her, the court heard.

Sam Jones, prosecuting, said the two had first met at university becoming “really good friends” and later “romantically involved” by being “intimate on one or two occasions”.

The alleged attack took place on February 26 this year in Bath, after Miss Kirk told Jones she did not wish to see him again but agreed to meet to return gifts he had bought her.

“The two of them had been in a relationship of sorts when Emma Kirk made it clear they would be nothing more than friends,” Mr Jones said.

“He became angry and demanding the return of gifts he had bought. She agreed to meet him in a lane close to where she lived to bring to an end the contact between them.”

Mr Jones said the defendant produced a knife and as Miss Kirk tried to run away, he grabbed her hair and pulled her to the ground.

“The attack was sustained and repeated and involved him stabbing her in the neck, face and head,” the prosecutor said.

“While on the ground he stabbed her 15 times in a brutal and frenzied attack. Witnesses described him as a ‘man possessed’.

“Both of her lungs were punctured. She tried to fight back, and she suffered multiple wounds to her hands as she grabbed at the blade.

“But for the way she fought back and for the bravery of others she would have been killed.

“He stabbed her multiple times to the neck – one of the most vulnerable parts of the human body.

“It took five men to drag the defendant off her and disarm him of the knife. Even then he continued to try and grab Emma and tried to strangle her when he was being pulled back.”

An off-duty police officer, members of the public and paramedics went to assist Miss Kirk in the lane close to Dransfield Way, and administered first aid.

“But for those actions, Emma’s life would have been lost,” Mr Jones said.

“She had suffered life-threatening injuries as a result of the defendant’s attack upon her.”

Eyewitnesses filmed the aftermath of the attack and Miss Kirk can be heard saying “I am going to die”.

Mr Jones said: “He was arrested and when he was arrested, he told the police, ‘Don’t show me any respect. I am a monster. I don’t deserve it’.”

In the run-up to the incident, the defendant had turned up to her place of work and would message her wanting to meet up, the court heard.

“Emma Kirk made it clear she did not want a relationship. She described it as him having an unhealthy obsession with her,” Mr Jones said.

“He could not take her no to him as an answer so he decided that if she did not want to be with him, she wouldn’t be with anyone else.”

In WhatsApp messages, Miss Kirk told Jones he is “pressurising” her and made her feel “uncomfortable”.

“I feel you are trying to scare or blackmail me into seeing you,” she wrote.

“I never want to hear from you again, you terrify me. I am so frightened of you.”

Jones later told the police it was Miss Kirk who had brought the knife to the scene, and he had taken it from her during a struggle in which they both ended up on the floor.

The defendant, of Ivy Avenue, Southdown, Bath, denies charges of attempted murder and having an article with a blade or point in a public place. But he admits causing her grievous bodily harm with intent.

The trial continues.