'I keep thinking what would have happened if the axe had hit my head'

VICTIM TELLS OF TORMENT AFTER DRUG ADDICT'S ATTACK

- By ESTHER HALLIGAN

A THIEVING drug addict chased a woman and repeatedly hacked at her with an axe in broad daylight.

Demi Belcher ran at her victim and hit her in the back with the axe, causing the woman to fall to the ground on a Hartlepool street on May 22, 2023.

The 32-year-old stood over the terrified woman on Wynyard Road and repeatedly hacked at her.

The woman put her arms up to protect herself as Belcher aimed for her head.

The victim's boyfriend got hold of Belcher and took the axe - he kicked and punched her - but Belcher got up and grabbed the axe back.

She chased the female victim again before the boyfriend intervened for a second time.

Belcher then smashed up the woman’s Audi A7 with the axe.

She grabbed a new pair of trainers, which were in a box on the back seat, and fled.

Teesside Crown Court heard that the day before, the victim had left her car outside her boyfriend's home. The windows were smashed and her Hunter wellies were taken from inside.

The victim was told, by a mutual associate, that Belcher was walking around in her wellies. The next day, the victim and her boyfriend drove to Wynyard Road shops.

They saw Belcher’s partner Michael Hutchinson looking out of his first-floor flat window.