Sheffield PC Lisa Bates thought she would die at hands of axeman

PC Lisa Bates told Sheffield Crown Court about events of April 13 this year, when she was attacked while attending a disturbance at an address in Gleadless.

Nathan Sumner, aged 35, of Plowright Close, Gleadless Valley, pleaded guilty to inflicting grievous bodily harm. He denies one charge of attempted murder and an alternative count of causing GBH with intent.

Giving evidence on Monday, PC Bates told jurors she attended Sumner’s address with colleague PC Mark Garrett – known as Tez – around 8pm and knocked on the door twice.

She said the door ‘flew open’ moments later and Sumner came towards them ‘aggressively’ and began assaulting PC Garrett.

After a failed attempt to get Sumner off her colleague, PC Bates sprayed him with CS gas, at which point he went back into his flat.

Second later, Sumner returned with an axe held up.

PC Bates said: “I turned around and ran... I could feel him and hear him closing in on me, because he kept on shouting ‘Come on then’.”

PC Bates said she began to panic and broke her leg while jumping down full flights of stairs in a bid to escape.

She said: “He was hitting me from behind and I felt it was heavy and cold... I was trying to get away from him, but I couldn’t because my leg was broken.

“I asked him to stop. I begged him to stop. When I was getting tired and couldn’t defend myself anymore I was asking him, saying ‘I’m begging you to stop’.”

She added: “I thought he was going to kill me.”

The court previously heard Sumner was in the middle of a psychotic episode when he carried out the horrifying attack, which left PC Bates with a gash to the head and a finger hanging off.

Sumner’s partner at the time, Kayleigh Barton, also gave evidence. Ms Barton, who had lived with Sumner for more than four years, said he went ‘a bit crazy’ on the Saturday before the incident.

In a police interview the day after, she said: “For the past few days he’s been going a bit crazy, going on about aliens and the Illuminati and things. He’s been swinging an axe around the house.”

The court heard Sumner started acting strangely after seeing on Facebook that a gun had been fired in Norfolk Park. Ms Barton told the court that Sumner wrongly believed somebody was trying to assassinate him.

The trial continues.