'I wanted to end my life after my husband pulled a knife on me... now I'm free'
Shattered glass, a tiny shoe, and two melted ice creams melted on the floor. Stepping back inside her family home, Bobbie-Leigh Tindall could still hear the sound of her daughters' screams.
It had been less than 24 hours since her husband had left her battered and bloodied in a terrifying attack. The nightmare unfolded not long after she had returned home from an Easter egg hunt with her two children.
Unaware their dad was waiting upstairs with a knife, her young kids sat down to enjoy their treats from the ice cream van. What happened next has been likened to a scene from a horror film.
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Bobbie-Leigh had just reached the top of her staircase when she was met by Jack Lowther, her partner of 15 years. He 'slapped her 20 times'; punched and throttled her; before pulling a knife from his pocket.
Tragically, their children witnessed the entire ordeal and ran from the Oldham house crying. Beautician Bobbie-Leigh, 28, managed to stumble downstairs, but collapsed in the kitchen.
Lowther had dialled 999 but then allegedly told dispatchers his children had been 'messing about on the phone'. The girls' screams were heard in the background and emergency services were immediately sent.
Lowther, also 28, fled the scene, but was found and arrested a short time later. Thankfully, despite her injuries, Bobbie-Leigh made a full recovery. But the physical and mental scars remain.
"I'll never forget the screams I heard that night," she told the Manchester Evening News. "They were hysterical. We went into the bedroom and he was punching me.
"My daughter got in front of me on the bed asking him to stop.