Man who stabbed himself in chest and blamed ex is jailed

A man who stabbed himself in the chest with a kitchen knife before blaming his ex-girlfriend so she would get arrested has been jailed for three years.

Wayne Slough, 33, cut himself after provoking an argument with his former partner in a house near Maidstone, Kent, which he recorded on his phone.

At Maidstone Crown Court last November, Slough was originally given a two-year suspended prison sentence after being found guilty of perverting the course of justice.

But the Court of Appeal quashed the decision on Wednesday and imposed an immediate jail term of three years following the incident in June 2017.

Slough arranged to meet his ex-partner and concealed the phone in his pocket before going into the house.

In the audio recording, Slough could be heard calmly saying "here she comes" while walking towards his car.

He claimed it was at this point his partner punched him in the right shoulder and stabbed him.

After noticing the knife, he allegedly pulled it out of his chest before throwing it in the footwell of his car and driving off.

Around 50 minutes later, he called Kent Police from Darent Valley Hospital near Dartford where he was receiving treatment and told officers his former partner assaulted him.

But there was no sign of a struggle or any evidence to suggest Slough had been approached by the victim on the recording.

A witness later confirmed while there had been an argument, the woman had not assaulted slough or been anywhere near his car on the morning of 17 June, 2017.

Detectives discovered the victim's DNA was not found on the kitchen knife, which also did not match the set at the property where she was living.

However, it did match the set of knives at Slough's home in Rochester, Kent.

Detective Constable Kathryn Lumsden-Earle of Kent Police said: "I am pleased that Slough has now been held to account and is in prison – it is the only acceptable outcome.

"I hope the victim of this case can now feel a sense of justice, and I encourage anyone else who is affected by domestic abuse to contact us so we can provide support and pursue justice."

Following the original sentencing in November, the Solicitor General Alex Chalk QC MP referred Slough’s sentence to the Court of Appeal for being too lenient and a long one was imposed this week.