A woman who was savagely beaten with a bottle of rum by her boyfriend for refusing to give him a KISS was saved – by a neighbour who stamped on the ceiling above.
Laura Hampton, 25, suffered an hour-long onslaught at the hands of Robert Hird, who dragged her around the room by her hair warning ‘I’m going to kill you.’
He battered her with an empty Morgan Spice bottle, kicked and punched her in the face, tried to strangle her and bit her hand causing permanent nerve damage.
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The nightmare only ended when neighbour Joan Dunleavie heard her screams and shouts and started jumping on her ceiling.
Joan, 49, also called out that she was going to call the police – and Hird finally stopped and fled.
Mum-of-two Laura said she had never been so terrified and believed she was going to die.
She had dated Hird, 24, for four months and lived with him in Crawley, Sussex, but ended their romance when he became violent.
“He phoned me saying he wanted to talk to me face to face after our break up and we spent a nice couple of days together as friends,” she said.
“We were sat in the living room and he moved to sit next to and asked me to kiss him. I said no.
“I had a laptop on my knee which he really calmly moved and then it was suddenly like a light switch going off – he punched me across the face.
“He kept hitting, kicking, punching me and I could feel myself falling in and out of consciousness.
“At one point he was sat directly on top of me and was repeatedly punching me while I tried to wriggle free.
“It was at this point he punched me so hard he knocked two of my back teeth out – I had to spit them out as I was choking on them – it was horrific.
“He kept screaming over me telling me he was going to kill me, he was saying it over and over again.
“I can vaguely remember my neighbour stamping on the ceiling and shouting saying she was going to call the police.
“he last thing I remember of the attack was seeing his feet run out the door.
“If she hadn’t helped me I know he would have killed me.”
Joan, who lives alone, said: “I had heard them moving about and chatting all evening which was quite normal in our flats.
“Then suddenly there was shouting and screaming – I heard Laura begging for someone to help.
“It was quite a chilling sound. So I began making a lot of noise, I pretended someone was in my flat with me and that we were coming downstairs.
“I started stamping and jumping on the ceiling it was all I could think to do to help.
“Then the sound of the commotion stopped and heard the door go – he ran out to his van and didn’t even look back.
“When Laura came to my door she was slumped over, I can honestly say I have never seen anything so terrible in my life.
“The poor girl could barely open her eyes.”
Laura, an unemployed former carer from Bridgend, Scotland, spent a week in hospital and had tests for brain damage.
Luckily her injuries were largely external and aside from the nerve damage in her hand where she was bitten, the attack has not left her with permanent injuries.
But she says the psychological impact will always remain with her.
She added: “I have been unable to return to Crawley where my children live because he has been on bail.
“The thought of bumping into him petrifies me. I’m scared of going out in case he appears. It has made me a nervous wreck.”
Hird, of Crawley, pleaded guilty to “assault causing severe injury” at Livingston Sheriff’s Court last Thursday and he will be sentenced at the Scottish court on May 23.
