A paranoid bully who stabbed a woman in the leg in a ‘persistent episode of repeated violence’ has been jailed for two years and three months.

Joe Taylor hurled an unopened can of Red Bull at her and threw punches before using the knife, Bradford Crown Court heard today.

Prosecutor Lydia Pearce told Bradford Crown Court that the victim was visiting him at his home in Cloverville Approach, Wibsey, on January 17 when he assaulted her.

He was sentenced on a video link to HMP Leeds after pleading guilty to unlawful wounding and to damaging her phone.

Taylor, 21, got into an argument with the woman, who was a former partner, and struck her on the shoulder with the can, Miss Pearce said.

He punched her in the head and body and she barricaded herself in the bathroom to try to escape. But he bent back her fingers, pushed her on to the sofa and punched her.

She then realised she was bleeding heavily after he had stabbed her in the leg.

She fled the house but he chased after her and she had to ask members of the public for help.

The woman needed three stitches to a deep wound in her left calf, the court was told. She had also sustained linear marks to her neck and bruising.

Taylor had five previous convictions for eight offences, including common assault, battery and damage.

His barrister, Emma Handley, said his earlier offences were committed in 2018 when he was a youth. He was still young and immature and his cannabis use had led to paranoia.

She conceded that the wounding was serious but urged the court to suspend the prison sentence to allow Taylor to be rehabilitated in the community.

He had been in custody for three months, locked in his cell for 23 hours a day, and had begun work to address his cannabis use.

“This is the point where he can change. He is willing to engage,” she told the court.

But Judge Jonathan Rose said Taylor was unwilling and unable to take responsibility for his own actions.

“You are a bully, particularly when it comes to women,” he said.

Taylor was also a drug user whose cannabis habit had fuelled his paranoia.

“This was a persistent episode of repeated violence on a defenceless woman,” Judge Rose stated.

He said Taylor was a risk to his vulnerable victim, other women and members of the public.