Carlisle man jailed for attempted murder.

A 39-year-old Carlisle man has been sentenced to life imprisonment for attempting to murder a woman in Carlisle in December last year.

At 3pm on 17 December 2022 Matthew Ryan, chased the woman out of a house on Ellesmere Way, Carlisle and repeatedly stabbed her.

That morning Matthew Ryan, members of his family, and the woman had attended Newcastle with the intention of watching a football match at St James Park.

Before the match started Ryan fell out with his family. Ryan, who had been drinking heavily, decided to drive back to Carlisle. He refused the woman's offer to drive the car and made her sit in the passenger seat.

At 12:41pm Northumbria Police received a 999 call from a concerned motorist reporting that Ryan's car was being driven dangerously on the A69 travelling towards Carlisle. Ryan verbally abused and threatened the woman as she hid terrified in the footwell.

When they arrived back in Carlisle, he picked up a large kitchen knife and chased her out of the house onto the street whilst swinging the knife at her. After she fell to the floor, he repeatedly stabbed her.

Ryan then went back into the house to retrieve his cigarettes and car keys, walked up to her, as she sat on a wall bleeding heavily, and calmly smoked a cigarette in front of her before driving away in his car.

A neighbour came to her assistance and called emergency services. The woman was taken to Cumberland Infirmary before being flown to the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle where she received life saving surgery to her stomach and bowels, and her kidney was removed.

Meanwhile Ryan had driven to an address on Thirlwell Gardens in Carlisle, where he was arrested a short time later. The knife he had used to stab her was found inside the house on Ellesmere Way.

Today Ryan has been sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 14 years. An indefinite Restraining Order was also imposed. 

Tom Snape, Senior Crown Prosecutor for CPS North West said: "Matthew Ryan carried out a frenzied knife attack on a woman as she lay defenceless on the floor. He did so in broad daylight in full view of anyone who was on the street at the time.

"He inflicted numerous wounds upon her, resulting in her undergoing lifesaving surgery; the long-term effects of those injuries may not be known for some time. Our thoughts are with her and all those affected by the attack at this time.   

"Violence against women and girls has no place in our society. The CPS is dedicated to bringing perpetrators of domestic abuse and knife crime to justice."