The scars: Permanent knife marks cut across David’s back
As her husband lay in a coma, fighting for life after being repeatedly stabbed, Nikki Jupp held his hand and whispered the same words over and over – “I’m so sorry.”
Although she hadn’t been the one holding the knife, Nikki was in no doubt that she was to blame for David’s life-threatening injuries.
During a brief split, she had made the fateful decision to sleep with her husband’s stepbrother, Darren Bryant.
Instantly filled with regret she went back to her husband but, unhappy the couple had reunited, jealous Bryant had confronted his stepbrother.
Bryant slashed his throat before stabbing him eight times in the chest and back.
“I remember sitting in the hospital begging David to wake up and repeating how sorry I was,” Nikki, 33, says.
“I wouldn’t leave his side. The doctors didn’t know if he’d make it and I kept saying. ‘Keep fighting it’.”
And, to Nikki’s immense relief, after seven weeks in a coma her husband woke up.
No one would have been surprised if David, 30, had never wanted to see his wife or stepbrother again. But, astonishingly, he has forgiven both of them.
Now, 14 months on, Bryant, 31, has been jailed for 16 years. David is still recovering from the attack – but he and Nikki are rebuilding their relationship.
David’s voice is just a whisper and he often struggles to eat because of damage to his vocal cords. He also suffered wounds that punctured his lungs and doctors have warned he may need a transplant in the future.
For Nikki, the wounds are emotional and she is haunted by the knowledge that her indiscretion almost cost her husband his life.
“Sleeping with Darren was a huge mistake and I instantly regretted it,” says Nikki, who has given up her cleaning business to care for David, a former delivery driver.
“David has paid the price. I still feel guilty every time I look at him to this day and I always will.
“David doesn’t blame me but that doesn’t stop me apologising to him every day. I wish I could turn back the clock.”
The couple, from Gainsborough, Lincs, met through friends on Facebook five years ago and married in 2012. “Life was perfect,” recalls Nikki, who has three children from a previous relationship.
“We had a small family wedding followed by a big knees-up in the evening for all our friends. The only person who couldn’t make it was Darren.”
The stepbrothers had grown up together after David’s dad married Bryant’s mum but grew apart when Darren moved away five years earlier to be with his girlfriend.
Just six months after the wedding, however, Nikki and David were arguing so much they agreed on a trial separation. David moved out while they tried to work through their problems.
They had counselling but when that didn’t work, they decided to split for good. Despite no longer being a couple, they remained friends.
And so when David asked Nikki if Bryant, who wanted to move back after splitting up with his girlfriend, and his son could stay in her spare room, she agreed.
It was supposed to be a temporary arrangement but after two months Nikki and Darren grew to become close friends.
“I used to talk to him about the problems me and David were having,” Nikki says. “He listened to me.”
Then, one evening while they were watching TV, Darren kissed her. “I kissed him back,” she says. “The kids had gone to bed and we were drinking. Stupid things happen when you’re drunk.
“We went up to my room and slept together. It just happened. It shouldn’t have done it but did. I was feeling quite low that my marriage had ended and maybe he used it to his advantage a bit. I immediately regretted it.”
And, even though she and David had split up, she knew this was wrong. “It was the ultimate betrayal,” she says.
It also made Nikki realise she still had feelings for David.
She explains: “It put things into perspective. Things had become difficult between us but sleeping with Darren opened my eyes and helped me see that I loved David and nobody else.
“I told Darren it was a mistake and it should never have happened. It only happened once. It was a one-night stand but he behaved like we were a couple.”
Despite her regrets, Nikki says she didn’t feel she could ask him to leave her home for the sake of his son.
Around the same time, she and David started talking again and soon realised they were still in love with each other.
But Nikki says: “Always, at the back of my mind, I knew I had to tell him what had happened with Darren before we could move forward.”
But when she told David, he said he had already guessed. “Deep down, I think I already knew. I sensed they’d grown close,” he says. “I was gutted, but we weren’t together any more.”
They agreed to give their marriage another go and Nikki says: “We thought it was best to take it slow and not live together straight away.”
However, when she broke the news to Bryant that she and David were getting back together, he took it badly.
Nikki adds: “He said if I ever got back with David he’d stab him – but I just thought it was an empty threat.”
By Christmas Day he seemed to have come to terms with the situation.
“David came over in the evening and I remember thinking that everything was going to be OK,” Nikki says.
“They were like brothers again and I thought we could all be friends.”
Bryant moved out of Nikki’s home a few days later and David came round to see her.
“We were talking in the kitchen about how the new year would be a fresh start for us,” she recalls.
Then, just after midnight, there was a knock at the door. “I went to the front door and the next thing I knew, the back door was being kicked in,” Nikki says. “I rushed through the kitchen to see David lying on the utility room floor.
“Darren was crouched over him and was stabbing him. His eyes were glazed over. He looked weird.
“I screamed and ran at Darren, grabbing him by the neck and pinning him against the wall. He’s a big man so I don’t know how I managed to lift him. It must have been adrenaline. It all happened so fast.
“The police say I probably saved David’s life because if Darren had stabbed him any more he would have been dead.
“David was in the foetal position on the floor and bleeding heavily. He was saying ‘Please help me’ then he didn’t say anything. I was terrified.”
Nikki raced to call an ambulance and when she returned Bryant had disappeared. David was rushed to Lincoln County Hospital but after Nikki gave a statement to police, his family didn’t want her to see him.
It was five days later, when he was transferred to Wythenshawe Hospital in Manchester on a special life-support machine, that they were reunited.
“When I saw him, I was horrified,” Nikki says. “He was covered in wires and tubes. I sat at his bedside and cried and cried. It was all my fault.”
Despite his terrible injuries, David woke from the coma and, after four months in hospital and regular physiotherapy, was well enough to go home with Nikki.
In May last year, Bryant pleaded guilty to attempted murder at Lincoln crown court. Judge Michael Heath branded him “dangerous” and ordered him to remain on licence for an extra five years. He told Bryant that if it hadn’t been for the “brilliance” of the surgeons, David would not have survived.
David still suffers flashbacks and doesn’t know if he will ever be able to return to work. “I feel frustrated that I can’t do things that I used to do,” David says. “I used to be really active.”
He admits it was difficult not to blame Nikki. “At first I did a bit,” he says. “But not now. I’m back with her which is what I wanted. I just want to move on.”
Amazingly, he doesn’t feel any anger towards his stepbrother.
“We are family and I never expected this but I try not to think about it. I’m not one to bear grudges. To me, it’s done and dusted.”
And Nikki wants to make the most of their fresh start, adding: “David and I have come through this strong and committed. We are determined nothing will ever tear us apart again.”
Source: Mirror