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Emma Brown, 49, needed emergency surgery for knife wounds to her face, stomach and arms after jealous Stephen Gibbs, 45, attacked her. She was carried on a stretcher from the property after the 10pm 999 call on January 30, and she has spent eight months recuperating following plastic surgery. The couple got together in 2009 after serial domestic abuser Gibbs was released from prison for a copycat knife attack on a previous partner.

Gibbs and Ms Brown, a former barmaid and airport ground crew worker, had been together for 11 years and enjoyed sunshine holidays in Spain and Portugal.

But he knifed her following a drunken row at their £700,000 house in Lakeside, Barry, south Wales after they had accused each other of being unfaithful.

A previous hearing heard there had been other allegations of violence between the couple.

Gibbs got a six-year prison ­sentence in 2005 for knifing former lover Nicola Hillberg and her 11-year-old son. The brute attacked the child after Ms Hillberg ended their relationship, stabbing him four times in the back and once in the chest.

Gibbs then went outside and, as he slashed at his ex-partner, screamed: “You get in here, you’d better see this, you are going to suffer.” A bystander heard him shout: “It’s your fault… I told you this would happen.”

He fled and attempted suicide by throwing himself from a multi-storey ­carpark but survived after three weeks in intensive care.

Gibbs was charged with attempted murder, but that was dropped when he admitted ­causing grievous bodily harm with intent to the child and ­attempting to assault Ms Hillberg.

The judge told him: “That you targeted a young boy was an act of particular wickedness.”

Just weeks after his release from jail on licence he hooked up with Ms Brown.

Gibbs, who worked for a family flooring business, had been scheduled to stand trial for attempted murder yesterday at Cardiff crown court.

But moments before the jury was due to be selected he changed his plea to guilty.

Judge Richard Twomlow warned him: “I need to ­consider the question of ­dangerousness. You face a lengthy prison sentence.”

Gibbs was remanded in ­custody and will be sentenced at Merthyr Tydfil crown court on October 8.

Since her big win, Ms Brown has donated to numerous local GoFundMe pages.

A friend said: “Emma is a really popular girl and has lots of friends. She has been a barmaid in plenty of pubs and is a very friendly person.”

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