A MOTHER-OF-TWO killed her controlling partner with a single stab wound to the back after suffering years of humiliating sexual abuse, Leeds Crown Court heard today.

Miroslawa Dawidowicz was jailed for three years and nine months for the manslaughter of 58-year-old Czeslaw Zawadzki.

She knifed him to death on Easter Sunday at the home they shared in Washington Street, Girlington, Bradford.

Dawidowicz, 58, was arrested at the scene in a distressed state and charged with murder. Her guilty plea to manslaughter was accepted by the Crown on the basis of “loss of control”.

Prosecutor Stephen Wood said the Polish nationals were together for 16 years and had been in the UK for about five years.

Both were alcoholics and Mr Zawadzki would force Dawidowicz to get drunk so he could undress her and have sex with her, even if others were present at the time.

The court heard he sexually abused her when she was unconscious through alcohol and punished her by making her stand naked outside the house.

Mr Wood said: “It seems clear to the prosecution that the defendant was the victim of an abusive relationship.”

Mr Zawadzki was found collapsed in the kitchen with a large wound to his back on the afternoon of April 20.

He died from severe blood loss from a 22cms deep wound that severed his left lung and pierced his heart.

Dawidowicz’s two grown-up sons from a previous relationship were at the house and ran to nearby Bradford Royal Infirmary for help.

They said the couple were drunk and had run out of cider.

Mr Zawadzki cut off Dawidowicz’s jumper pocket with a large kitchen knife because there was money in it for more drink.

The court heard he did not attack her with the weapon and it may have been a joke.

But it caused an argument and one son saw his mother holding a large blood-stained knife.

Dawidowicz told the police she lost long periods of time when she had been drinking. She recalled buying three, three-litre bottles of cider the previous day.

Her barrister Richard Wright QC said the couple had led “an alcohol-fuelled and alcohol-blighted life”.

Dawidowicz had felt shame about the physical and sexual acts to which she had been subjected.

Her sons had not visited her in prison and her lack of English made her very isolated.

Sentencing Dawidowicz, Mr Justice Edis noted Mr Zawadzki had committed “striking acts of serious and humiliating abuse” on her from time to time.

Jaling her he said: “I am sure that you deeply regret what you have done and that you mourn the loss of your companion.”

After the case, Detective Superintendent Mark Ridley, who led the police inquiry, said: "The investigation uncovered evidence that Dawidowicz had been in an abusive relationship, and while this was never reported to the police, there is no doubt that domestic abuse can lead to a loss of control with potentially devastating consequences."

"This has been illustrated by the needless and untimely death of her partner, Czelaw Zawadzki, which she has pleaded guilty to and been sentenced accordingly.

"This case also serves to highlight the plight of others trapped in abusive relationships, and I would urge those people to make use of the support that is available to help change their situation, in the hope that a repeat of these tragic consequences can be avoided."