Acid attack victim's fury after she was forced to wait nearly three years for ... trends now

An acid attack victim has expressed her fury at Britain's legal system after she was forced to wait almost three years for her drunken attacker to face justice - only to see him spared jail.

Leanne Slack, in her 40s, said she was subject to a 'living hell' after ex-boyfriend Matthew Kenner's case was repeatedly adjourned before prosecutors agreed to water down charges against him in a plea bargaining deal.

The nursery nurse had been naked in bed except for a dressing gown when Kenner, 43, turned up at their home drunk at 2am in July 2021 and hurled brick cleaner containing Hydrochloric Acid over her after she got a cab home without him following a hot tub party.

The victim screamed in agony as she felt burning pain over her face and body and dashed to the bathroom in a bid to wash away the corrosive liquid with running water. 

Miraculously she was able to limit the damage caused her to her skin by using first aid skills she learnt at work but she has suffered psychological harm and is now showing signs of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

When quizzed Kenner, from Ramsbottom, near Bury, Greater Manchester, said he had drunk half a bottle of rum and was angry because he had to walk home in someone else's trainers as he had lost one of his shoes at the party.

It emerged he had sent a string of vile messages to the victim as he was on his way back saying: 'Get the f**k out of my house you c**t, Die in your sleep you c**t. The sooner you are dead the better.'

Kenner a self employed tiler was initially charged with intent to cause grievous bodily harm in August 2021 which fetches a maximum of life imprisonment but after five separate court adjournments for undisclosed reasons prosecutors eventually accepted his guilty plea in September 2023 to the lesser charge of assault causing actual bodily harm.

They then recommended he faced a maximum of only two and a half years behind bars under sentencing guidelines before a further three hearings came and went whilst Kenner tried unsuccessfully to withdraw his guilty plea.

This week, 31 months since the assault, Kenner who arrived 20 minutes late for his hearing at Bolton Crown Court was ordered to complete 150 hours unpaid work and was sent on a 'Building Better relationships' programme after a powerless judge said he had 'very little option' but to let him go free.

The court heard he had already spent 11 months on remand before being bailed on a curfew to await trial and as a result under Home Office rules had already served the equivalent of a 23 month prison sentence.

Ina statement Miss Slack hit out at the UK legal system and said: 'Following the attack I have been subjected to what can only be described as two years of living hell which I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy.

'Whilst the court case has hung over me, I have been left frozen and completely unable to move on with my life. My attacker served less than a year on remand before being released out into my neighbourhood and I have to work a four minute walk from my address putting me in a constant state of fear.

'I felt like I was the one on remand being punished whilst he was allowed to move around as he pleased taunting me.

'For two years I have dreaded seeing my attacker in court, I have dreaded my statement being picked apart by the defence and I dreaded people not believing my truth.

'I dreaded my attacker not getting the sentence he described for ruining my life. The system made me feel less of a person -I felt like a piece of evidence in my own case.'

She added: 'This attack has changed the trajectory of my life forever. My attacker was a person who I loved for eight years and I would never had considered he would be the one who to cause me the most harm.

'I thought he wanted me to die and I genuinely thought I would die. As a direct result I have suffered from anxiety and PTSD and I have

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