The 40-year-old mother of two of Acacia Avenue, Fence Houses, thought she was going to die when her ex-partner rained down blows in a horror claw hammer attack after she slapped his sunburn.

Then there's Michelle Jenner, 34, of Monkwearmouth. She thought her jealous ex would kill her when he almost bit off her nose.
Both have been shamefully let down by judges.

First up in Newcastle Crown Court was Gavin Wynd, who admitted the assault on Susan.

Judge David Hodson disgracefully let him off with a six-month suspended sentence.

This judge's cock-eyed sentencing came down to the fact that because Wynd had already served two months in jail for assault on Susan during a separate attack at their home last April, it would be unfair to send him back.

Unfair? It most certainly is to Susan, given the hammer attack in May last year came just a month after the previous attack.
The truth is that justice is being compromised because the prisons are full to overflowing.

All this is saying to men like Wynd and Michelle's ex-boyfriend, Neil Inkson, 33, of Monkwearmouth, who was let off with a 12-month jail term, suspended for two years – despite a previous conviction for a biting attack – is you can do it again and again. And what hope does that give to frightened and traumatised victims?

Just this: Don't bank on the justice system protecting you.
Rough justice and no mistake!

Michelle told me she twice tried to kill herself, desperate to be free of Inkson.

In an earlier drunken attack he had sank his teeth into ex-girlfriend Julie Reynolds' hip because he didn't like her tattoo.

Sentencing Inkson for the assault on Julie, Judge Beatrice Bolton hit the nail on the head when she said: "You are a man who wishes to control his partner."

But she should have locked him up instead of believing leopards can change their spots. Judge Bolton said: "The best way of protecting women from you in the future is putting you on a course to help your behaviour in the home."

Don't you believe it. Michelle, who lives a few streets away from Inkson – she's now too frightened to go out, except to take her daughter to nursery.

What use are these domestic violence courses? Are there statistics to show how many re-offend? Are these men taking these courses seriously or are they laughing up their sleeves? Are they just telling people taking the courses what they want to know?

Clearly it did Inkson no good. And how many more are there like him who haven't learnt their lesson. What they need is the short sharp shock of being put behind bars.

Michelle, who has been forced to give up her college course because of the trauma, said: "I decided to speak out because I feel as if he has basically been let off in court.

"I knew I had to do something because I didn't want my little girl to grow up thinking that it's OK for a man to treat a woman like that."

Days of the kept woam are well and truly over

WHILE in my Easter bonnet, I was stopped in my tracks when a friend quipped: "I don't know how Tony can afford to keep you in hats alone."
"Well, I'm no kept woman. I keep myself," was my response.

Now I see fewer kept women – more are doing the keeping by marrying toy boys.

Women's perceptions have changed so that a growing number are marrying younger men.

The ONS report found couples in which the wife is older made up 26 per cent of those marrying in 2004 – up from 15 per cent in 1963.
How big the age gap, the report didn't say. But who wants a wife the same age as your mother? Are you in a relationship like this? Is it happy?

Do you care what other people think? Answers on a postcard or email me at linda.colling@northeast-press.co.uk

Boys in bras and frilly knickers?

HOW bizarre that, in a survey to celebrate 100 years of the bra, one in five men admitted to wearing women's underwear … but didn't disclose if it was every day or just for special occasions!

"Come on, own up," I asked the guys in the newsroom.

Quick as a flash, Kevin the joker came back with: "There's me, Ross, Gavin and John. It's got to be Craig."

Not surprisingly, I couldn't find one who would admit to such a fetish. But one mate quipped: "They want to give instructions on how to get them off."

He then shared the uplifting tale of how at Christmas after circling the lingerie department in MetroCentre's House of Fraser, with a host of other fellas, he plunged in with: "Look, I want to get our lass some underwear. I've raided the knicker drawer and got her sizes. It's got to be something she would like."

And the helpful salesgirl told him straight: "Anything but red."
Cross my heart. It's true.


What was this girl thinking?

UNBELIEVABLE that any 17-year-old girl would throw a party with the sole intention of inviting yobs countrywide to come and trash her parent's home.

The idea apparently came from a storyline of TV programme Skins. No wonder the girl ran away from the £230,000 family home at Woodstone Village, Fence Houses.

It just goes to show what a dangerous and frightening influence television makers can have.