KNIFE held against her throat, Rebecca Kingsley pushed against the blade to reach the front door, where neighbours were trying frantically to get in.

She managed to reach the handle.

“I’ve never seen someone storm through a door to help someone so quickly,” she said.

“My neighbour managed to get him out, but he tried to get back in.”

Rebecca, 22, is describing the terrifying moment her ex-partner held a kitchen knife to her throat during a struggle at her home in Harwich.

Neighbours first heard Rebecca scream from her garden as an argument with her former partner, Wilson Carey, 26, spiralled into violence.

Read more >>> Neighbours stepped in after man held knife to former partner's throat

During a sentencing hearing at Chelmsford Crown Court, Julie Whitby, prosecuting, said: “What started as a minor altercation became physical.

“That included Rebecca Kingsley screaming loud enough for the neighbours in the street to hear.

“One neighbour heard the scream and described it as bloodcurdling, they thought someone had been murdered.”

One neighbour banged on the door of Rebecca’s home.

Through a glass partition, she could see Carey holding a knife to her throat.

“She told the other neighbours to get back and she armed herself with a recycling box,” said Ms Whitby.

After she managed to gain entry, she and other neighbours managed to get Carey out of the house.

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The neighbour saw Rebecca’s son, aged six, at the top of the stairs crying.

Carey regained entry and lashed out, striking the neighbour in the thumb, chipping a bone.

After admitting affray and assault Carey, of Bridge Place, Cattawade, received a sentence of 18 months imprisonment, suspended for two years, alongside a 35-day rehabilitation activity requirement and 200 hours of unpaid work.

He must remain subject to an electronically monitored curfew for three months between 10pm and 4.45am and was excluded from attending Rebecca’s street address.

Rebecca said no-one told her about the sentence.

She said she only found out the case had reached its conclusion when she read the Gazette’s coverage of the hearing.

She has reached out with a message to others who have suffered domestic abuse during lockdown.

“We were together for about nine months,” she said.

“I had felt I wasn’t strong enough to leave, but before this happened I had found the strength to say to him I felt like the relationship had become toxic.

“My plan was to tell him on that day, but this happened and I didn’t get the chance when it all kicked off.

“I’ve had post traumatic stress as a result. He held a knife to my throat, I honestly feel if the neighbours hadn’t arrived I wouldn’t be here today.

“I can’t go to the shops without looking over my shoulder.

“When I take my eldest son to school, I panic walking back on my own.

“He always had a bit of a temper but thankfully it was never in front of the kids, which I am grateful for.

“There was never violence before this day.

“Lockdown is certainly an issue, the fact was we were in the house 24/7 with each other.

“I want other victims to know there is a way out and you don’t have to stay.

“As much as you want to stay, you need to get out.

“A suspended sentence is a joke, what’s to say this won’t happen to another girl.

“My kids could have been left without a mum.”