Sobbing woman tells how she thought maths teacher was going to kill her in carving knife attack

A sobbing woman has shared how she thought a mad math teacher would kill her in a savage carving knife attack because her husband ended the affair as the attacker faces 22 years in prison for attempted murder.

The scorned Clare Bailey, 44, launched the attack on Emma Russell, 43, on June 23 last year after her cheating husband ended the illicit romance.

Bailey disguised herself in a red wig and bought the woman flowers before stabbing and slashing her with a meat cleaver, in Harrogate, North Yorkshire.

Speaking of the attack on video, Emma said her daughter, who was 14 at the time, came down the stairs and approached the woman who attacked her.

Sobbing uncontrollably she said, “The only other thing I remember is her standing behind me trying to slit my throat and that’s the point where I knew if I didn’t do something I wouldn’t survive, so I grabbed I held the knife in my hands and clung to it and it stopped her.’

The camera zooms in on her neck, revealing the mark the wound left. There is also a scar on her arm.

Leeds Crown Court learned that Bailey had driven from her home in Dudley, in the West Midlands, to launch the frenzied attack.

Prosecutor Rupert Doswell said Bailey began the affair with the man after a kiss at her brother’s wedding.

The court learned that they had known each other about 20 years earlier.

He said: ‘It evolved into a sexual relationship and they met a few times over the next few years. It was clear she wanted him to leave his wife.

“At the time he accepted, he may have given her the impression that he did.

Around midnight between Christmas and New Years 2019 there was a knock on the door. Flowers and two cardboard notes were left behind. The children saw someone running into the street. The notes are handwritten to his wife.’

The court heard that one of the notes read, “I keep waiting until I can celebrate Christmas with you,” while another read, “If only I could be with you.”

In March 2022, the man told Bailey that he was ending their relationship and that his children were his priority.

He then blocked her on social media, but in May 2022, while walking on his lunch break, he felt a “tap on the shoulder” and it was Bailey.

Mr Doswell said: ‘It was the defendant and she said she was there to see him. They talked for half an hour and he told her the relationship was over.’

The court heard Bailey was caught on CCTV at a Sainsbury’s store on June 23 last year when he was buying flowers. ANPR cameras had followed her car from her home.

Mr Doswell said she told work she went in but had to leave due to a prolapse and peeing on her own.

However, Bailey had traveled to Harrogate instead, bought the flowers, donned a red wig and a Covid face mask and knocked on the door of the man’s family home before brutally stabbing Emma with a meat cleaver.

Mr Doswell said: ‘At 4.52pm North Yorkshire Police received a call from the ambulance service saying they had gone to an address in Harrogate to report that a woman had been stabbed.

Footage from a Ring doorbell minutes before that call showed her going to the door of the address and ringing the doorbell. Before recording, she hid her face with a bunch of flowers.

“The door was opened and after I told her [the victim] the flowers were for her, she stormed into the corridor and attacked violently with a large meat cleaver.’

Bailey slashed, slashed and stabbed repeatedly at Emma, ​​who tried to reach for the knife, resulting in severe injuries to her hand.

Part of the attack was witnessed by Emma’s young daughter who tried to help by reaching for the knife before calling emergency services.

The court heard that after the attack, two men in their car saw Bailey quietly walking away.

Mr Doswell said one of them ‘seemed casual and he didn’t think anything had happened at the address and heard screaming and went in with others’.

She added: ‘After seeing blood, he ran into the street to see where the defendant had gone. She was gone.’

Bailey had gone home and tried to take off her disguise.

She was arrested in the early hours of July 4, and on her way to her custody, an officer asked, “Does this pertain to my friend’s wife?” I talked to him and he said she was stabbed.’

Mr Doswell said: ‘When CCTV footage of her was shown in the supermarket, she claimed amnesia in relation to that and the events.’

Officers searched Bailey’s home and found blood-stained clothes from the washing machine and a blue Covid mask.

A bloodstained glove was found under a garbage can and bloodstains were also found on the car door.

The court heard that Emma suffered serious injuries to her neck, forearm, arm and abdomen and required surgery.

Her injuries were described as life-changing and were “within millimeters of a serious threat to life.”

Mr Doswell said she remarked on the spot: ‘A woman tried to give me flowers and I said ‘I don’t want them’ and ‘Don’t let me die’.’

Emma was transferred to Leeds General Infirmary, where she stayed for a month before self-discharged.

In a victim impact statement read to the court, she says she still suffers from nightmares and flashbacks, adding, “Sometimes I stop myself from sleeping because I don’t want the dreams to come true.”

Curtis Myrie, mitigating, told the court that Bailey had pleaded guilty to attempted murder at an earlier hearing. A psychiatric report had also been prepared for the court.

He said: “There is a full acceptance of responsibility for what she has done. For the catastrophic and traumatic consequences of her actions. That cannot be minimized.’

His Honorable Judge Robin Mairs jailed Bailey for 22 years and four months and told her to serve two-thirds of that sentence in custody. He described sending the flowers to the house over Christmas and New Year 2019, and the calls to Emma’s work as “trying to poison both sides against each other.”

He told Bailey that Emma was “very much the target of your jealousy.” The judge said, “That morning [of the attack] you sent messages to her husband about how much you loved him…”

The judge said of the victim, “What you did controls her days and haunts her nights.” Bailey also became the subject of an indefinite restraining order.

Speaking out of court, Senior Detective Jonathan Sygrove said: ‘First of all I must commend Emma’s courage, she has shown so much courage during the investigation and I hope that with today’s verdict she can put an end to the events of that afternoon.

“This was a horrific attack on an innocent and blameless lady who, as a result, can no longer feel safe in her own home, at work or spend time independently with her children. Emma had to spend weeks in hospital away from her family, where she was treated for injuries that simply should never have happened. She only opened the front door of her house.

“From the first call from the ambulance service, this was an extremely fast-paced investigation that led to the swift arrest and charge of the perpetrator. It soon became clear how much planning Bailey had made and how little respect she had for anyone standing in the way of what she wanted, and I welcome the verdict handed down to her today.”

Emma said, ‘I’m still in pain every day and need painkillers to help with this. I use crutches to get around as I still can’t use my right leg fully and for longer distances I have a wheelchair.

“I lost all my independence, I couldn’t go back to work, we’re on disability benefits, I’ve basically lost my whole life, I need help with everything I do.

“I don’t sleep and when I do sleep I have flashbacks and nightmares from that afternoon.

“I can’t imagine what my daughter went through, to witness what she did, to try to stop the attack, she’s my hero, she’ll always be my little hero, I honestly don’t think I’m here still would be if she hadn’t been home that day.

“I know people will have their opinions on what I should have done after the attack, but I did what was best for me. Things happen, they aren’t fun, but they happen and no one could ever imagine something like this would be the outcome, this was not a normal reaction to a breakup.

“I want to take this opportunity to thank those who came to help that day, people who didn’t know me, didn’t know if they were safe or would also be attacked, thank you.”