Brutal Jack Sutton, 24, even used to check what underwear Cynthi Dolgeova, 23, was wearing when she went out during their brutal relationship.

His campaign of abuse culminated in a vicious attack in December last year when Sutton slashed and stabbed his partner after Googling the length of prison sentences for murder.

Sutton pleaded guilty to attempted murder at Leeds Crown Court and was jailed for 16 years earlier this month.

Cynthi, a production worker from Czech Republic, had moved to Scarborough with Sutton after they met on dating app Badoo while he was working abroad in her home country in April 2020.

But within months their relationship became “toxic and controlling” as Cynthi says her ex-partner became paranoid that she was cheating.

She said: “From the beginning, there were a lot of red flags. After 14 days he told me he was in love with me and that I was made for him and to be fair I fell in love quite quickly as well.

“The start of our relationship was really nice, it was just normal.

“We moved in together after two months but after that he started being really toxic, he didn’t want me to go out and see my friends. He just wanted me for himself.

“Every time I wanted to go out he was checking what knickers I was wearing and if I had shaved, all of these horrible things. He was accusing me of sleeping with my own mum’s boyfriend.

“At the time I thought it was normal but now when I look back I realise it wasn’t normal at all what he was doing to me.”

In February 2021, the couple moved to Scarborough, North Yorkshire, after Sutton’s job in Czech finished.

But just four months after she had uprooted her life and left her family and friends, Cynthi says she discovered her boyfriend had been cheating on her.

She said: “I left everything my family friends my job everything I left it all for him so it was really hard for me.

“After four months of being in the UK I found out that he was cheating on me, he had a phone full of dating apps and was paying for OnlyFans.

“I tried to leave him a thousand times but he would tell me that if I left him he would kill me and kill himself.

“He was always fighting with other boys and he would occasionally push me away but he had never hit me. It was just the physical and mental abuse.”

In October 2021 the abuse became too much for Cynthi who decided to move in with her best friend, Aimee, and left Sutton.

But still believing he was the love of her life, the couple decided to meet for one final dinner on December 10 to discuss their future.

She said: “I really loved him I thought he was the man that I was going to marry one day even after all this.

“We decided to go for the last dinner to talk about things between us and I said that I just needed some time.

“He told me that he understood and that he was going to wait for me, that he was going to start therapy for his aggression.

“He brought me home and he was crying and said that he really wanted me back and I told him I would think about it.

But later that night, after returning home to Aimee, the friends decided they were going to go for a drink, only to realise that Sutton had taken Cynthi’s ID.

With Aimee’s support, Cynthi arranged to meet Sutton for a second time that night to retrieve her ID, but after asking to speak with her privately, the attempted killer launched his attack.

Cynthi said: “He was saying “come with me behind this corner, I just want to talk to you in private,” so I tried to grab it out of his hand and that’s when he started stabbing me.

“He pushed me against a wall and started stabbing me all over.

“I remember I could feel the knife getting stuck in my ribs and he was trying to get it out, it was awful.

Cynthi has been left with scars all over her body ( Image: Cynthi Dolgeova)

“I think at this point the knife broke so he started beating me up. He was jumping on my ribs and kicking my head like a ball.

“I was screaming help and yelling at Aimee to call the police.

“While I was lying on the floor I was begging him to stop and let us sort it out.”

Cynthi was rushed to hospital where doctors found she was bleeding into her lungs, had multiple broken ribs and damage to her spine.

But after returning from hospital after multiple surgeries, she was still left with physical and mental scars.

She said: “It took me a long time before I realised what actually happened. He was the man I wanted to spend the rest of my life with.

“The first two months after I came back from hospital were horrendous, there were times when I wished that he had killed me that day.

“I couldn’t bear to look at myself in the mirror at all the scars that he left behind there were days when I wanted to be dead.”

During the court hearing Cynthi discovered that her toxic ex had even Googled the length of prison sentences for murder prior to launching his attack.

She said: “When I heard that I just broke down in tears because I realised he really was trying to kill me.”

Now with Sutton behind bars, she says she can sleep at night, but will always live in fear of his release.

She said: “Before the court hearing I couldn’t sleep every night, I was having nightmares, I was waking up sweating.

“I can sleep now, even now there are triggers that remind me of him, songs, places we used to go together, or certain smells.

“I know he’s a psychopath. I’m terrified that he’s going to find me one day and finish it.

“I never ever want another boyfriend, I don’t want men around me I’m worried is another boyfriend going to do the same to me.”

But while Cynthi is still working on trusting people she believes she must make her second chance with life “worth something”.

She said: “When I was dying on the floor I was thinking I’m only 23 I’m too young to die.

“I never thought this would happen to me but I’m lucky to be alive and I promised myself that I was going to make my life worth it.”

But one woman has shared how this was not the case for her and her ex-partner.

The unnamed woman took to Mumsnet to share her jaw-dropping story, claiming she had paid for almost everything during the 12 years they were together – including buying their flat and her own engagement ring.

She says her ex had a low credit score and he didn’t have much money, so she would pay and he just contributed some cash for their utility bills.

However, now that they are separated the man is claiming she ‘owes’ him money, leaving the woman and fellow Mumsnet users flabbergasted.

The full post reads: “Do I owe him money?

“I was with my ex-partner for 12yrs. When we met I owned a flat. We lived in that flat together for 5yrs. When I wanted to move I tried to buy another property with him but his credit score was low so I ended up having to buy a cheaper property myself.

“We lived in that new property for 6yrs before breaking up. During those years he paid me ‘half’ the bills. It was never actually half as he never had enough money because he was always getting fines and getting silly APR loans and generally mismanaging money.

“Asides from that, it was always me paying for holidays, restaurants etc. I paid for our IVF. Now he’s saying that I owe him money for him having contributed towards bills. AIBU by telling him to get lost?”

In the comments, the woman added that they were engaged for seven years – and she’d even had to buy her own ring.

More than 280 people responded to the post, with many agreeing that if they weren’t married, the woman didn’t owe her ex a single penny.

One person said: “You weren’t married. He would have to prove that he had paid sufficient money to have acquired an equitable interest in the property and by the sound of it he paid little more than his share of the bills he used.”

Another replied: “So, he wants you to refund the ‘half’ he contributed during your relationship. Where would he have been living if he hadn’t lived with you? Wherever it was, he would have had costs to pay one way or another. Tell him to get lost.”

A third added: “So he’s demanding that you retrospectively fund his existence? Just ignore him.”

Someone else wrote: “No you don’t owe him anything, he’s also skint so unlikely to pay a solicitor to try and claim anything.”

About 20 years ago, I had a brief and very exciting sexual fling with a really hot guy, who’s a cousin of a good friend.

It didn’t last very long – he went travelling and then relocated abroad and now has a wife and three kids. I’ve been happily married for 15 years and we have one child together.

However, recently this ex relocated back to the area and I’ve seen him a couple of times around town.

The last time I bumped into him, he asked if I had time for a quick drink, so we went to the local pub for a couple of hours to catch up on the past two decades and it felt like a date.

I found I was still really attracted to him – there’s definitely a lot of sexual chemistry – and now I’m feeling weird about my marriage.

My husband is great, good-looking and very caring, but also a bit boring and now I’m questioning how happy I really am in my marriage.

It’s a nightmare seeing this other guy around and knowing there’s still something there between us.

Coleen says,

Well, maybe your hubby isn’t boring. Perhaps your relationship is in a rut. I honestly think if there’s sexual tension between two people it can be really powerful and make you feel very confused.

But just because you still fancy him and used to have great sex together, doesn’t mean you don’t love and fancy your husband.

And lusting after someone doesn’t mean you’ll work as a couple. I think if the relationship had been good in other ways 20 years ago – i.e. offered more than just good sex – then you wouldn’t have split up.

You would have found a way to make it work and you’d still be together now.

Think about what you have to lose by pursuing things with this guy – once the sexual chemistry stops fizzing, what else have you got?

So, my advice would be, don’t put yourself in the position of going for a cosy drink on your own with him again. At least not until you’ve tried to fix the relationship you’re in.

If you’re bored, do something about it. It takes two to get into a rut and it takes effort to get out of it. Focus on creating some romance at home and remember what used to light your fire.

I split with my long-term partner about a year ago – we’d got into a rut and Covid lockdowns didn’t help.

However, we met up recently and ended up in bed and it was obvious to us both that the sexual chemistry is still very much there.

I’ve been quite miserable without him, but have done my best to move on, although I haven’t met anyone else.

Is it stupid to go back to a relationship and try again? My heart is saying yes, try again, but my head is nagging me to proceed with caution!

I’d love any advice you can offer.

Coleen says,

I think it’s important to really work out what the problems were in the relationship that made you split up. I think your head is right – proceed with caution.

Don’t get into a routine of meeting up just to have sex, or move in together.

Just start dating again and talk about what went wrong, and how it’s going to be different second time around.

Sometimes relationships can be purely physical and that’s what keeps bringing you back together, but you need something more to sustain it long term.

Trust your head – it’s not saying “no”, it’s saying be careful and take the situation slowly, and that’s a good way to proceed.