Cage fighter jailed for stabbing pregnant woman

“Ticking time-bomb” Nicholas Leaning, 28, stabbed Lauren Oliver five times in the stomach when she was seven months pregnant, after she planned a DNA test with the help of another woman he was also seeing.

A jury took 90 minutes to find Leaning, who was cleared of attempted murder, but found guilty of attempted child destruction and wounding with intent, at Hull Crown Court.

The baby was born by emergency caesarean section following the stabbing on June 11 this year.

The court heard Leaning, of Torbay Court, Scunthorpe and Miss Oliver had been in a “great” relationship for around two years before she discovered he had rekindled a relationship with his ex-partner Lindsay Coombs.

The pair split up in November last year - but Miss Oliver then discovered she was pregnant with his child.

He tried to persuade her to abort the baby, but she refused.

The jury heard how Leaning, wearing a cage fighting mask, struck a seven-month pregnant Miss Oliver at her home in Belton, Lincolnshire, as she returned from dropping her daughter at school.

As she opened her front door, he plunged a knife into her stomach and pushed her onto the floor where he stabbed her another four times, trying to kill the baby.

The jury was played evidence from Miss Oliver, who said: “I knew it was him and I knew what he was going for.

“It was like he was enjoying it because he was smiling. I pleaded with him not to kill me and my baby.

“He stabbed me five times. I felt a massive gush of blood between my legs and I thought my baby was dead.”

Jailing him, Judge Jeremy Richardson QC described Leaning as a “ticking timebomb” and said: “This is an exceptionally serious case of its kind.

“It is good fortune alone that has resulted in the child suffering no long term effects of that trauma.

“The same cannot be said for the mother. She is scared both physically and mentally by what you did.

He said Leaning had not shown a “shred of remorse” and instead had made “outrageous assertions” that Miss Oliver had stabbed herself and attempted to kill her own baby as an act of revenge for choosing his former partner over her.

Detective Inspector Alan Curtis said: “He is a manipulative liar who tried to lie himself out of what he had done.

“It was only a pure miracle that they survived.

“They will still carry mental and physical scars for the rest of their lives but it could have been far worse. I would once again like to commend the victim for her courage throughout the trial and hope that she is now able to look forward to a positive future with her family.”