Boyfriend stabbed through the thigh bone during drunken Christmas row at Leeds home

Police reported blood stains across the lounge of the property on Mistress Lane in Armley after Morgan Lee Murphy plunged the knife into his partner’s leg on Boxing Day in 2021.

Murphy admitted a charge of section 20 GBH during a sentencing hearing at Leeds Crown Court this week.

The 22-year-old had called the police himself and said he had been attacked, and they found him outside the property and visibly upset, prosecutor Carmel Pearson told the court.

When an officer went inside they found the victim laid on the floor with the gaping wound to his upper leg. Morgan said he had been defending himself when he stabbed the man.

The victim, who did not support the prosecution, was taken to hospital where it was found the knife had penetrated his femur and chipped the bone.

Mitigating, Robert Stevenson said that Murphy, of Edinburgh Grove, Armley, suffered from severe mental health issues and had emotionally unstable personality disorder.

He said he suffered physical abuse as a child and was bullied at school because of his sexual orientation.

The pair had been together for five years and his partner had raised concerns over Murphy’s mental health. Mr Stevenson said the attack was “spontaneous and short-lived” and added: “Prison would serve to punish him but achieve very little else.”

Judge Rodney Jameson KC acknowledged his personal difficulties and spared him immediate custody, jailing him for 15 months, suspended for two years. He also gave him a 120-day alcohol treatment requirement.