A husband who chased his wife with a bow and arrow before opening fire at her has been jailed for 17 years for her attempted murder.
Raging Stephen Carr pursued his wife Lorna as she ran in terror around their home, firing arrows at her before stabbing her six times as she desperately tried to make a 999 to police.
Carr, 57, launched his attack at the couple’s home in Strensall, near York, on 8 September last year after drinking a litre of vodka and telling her “you are dying tonight”.
Despite the frenzied attack, in a letter to Judge Simon Phillips KC, Mrs Carr said her husband was a “loving, caring, compassionate man” and she intended to continue their marriage.
Carr, who was found guilty of attempted murder after a trial at Leeds Crown Court, was jailed for 17 years and told he would serve an additional three years on licence following his release.
The court heard the couple had been arguing over the care of his mother who lived with them and had advanced dementia.
The couple married in April 2024 and had been living together since October 2023. Carr, who was wearing his slippers during the chase, told the hearing he had drunk “at least a litre of vodka” prior to the attack.
North Yorkshire Police said he had pursued his wife around the house with a bow he had previously used in target archery competitions.
He fired one of the arrows went into the wooden part of a door between the two of them and then fired a second arrow into a duvet under which his wife was hiding after running into their bedroom and then a third shot onto the floor a couple of feet from where she was crouched.
He then took a knife from the kitchen and stabbed her repeatedly in the back as she spoke to a 999 call handler. She suffered 10 wounds between three and 10 cm deep in her back along with a number of other injuries.
His actions with the weapon, which he owned because he often took part in the archery sessions, were caught on his own CCTV cameras.
In the footage his petrified wife could be heard pleading “Don’t kill me Steve, please. Think of your mum”.
When officers arrived at the house they found Carr sitting in his garden shed and arrested him.
The court heard he had sent his wife a message after the attack saying: “I’m glad I didn’t do what I wanted to do. I did say you were pushing me to far [sic]. My bag [sic] sorry.”
During his trial he claimed he had not intended to attack her, saying he had blacked out and could not remember what had happened but denied that he had aimed the arrows at her and that he had wanted to harm her.
He described himself as “a very good shot with a bow and arrow” and claimed if he had wanted to, he could “easily, very easily” have hit her with the arrows.
He alleged his wife Lorna Carr was trying to “change me, control what I was doing” and he wanted to “scare” her into stopping what she was doing.
Asked by his barrister Gulam Ahmed why he had told his wife during the attack “you are dying tonight” he replied: “People say lots of things, they don’t always mean them.”
He also claimed: “I love her dearly, I absolutely love Lorna to bits. She is a beautiful woman, I idolise her.”
The court heard he had no background of violence or abuse, with his behaviour on the night described as a “one-off, out of character incident” where drink had played a part.
Mrs Carr said, in her letter, that her husband was “a very broken man” that night but she had forgiven him and trusted that he would never hurt her again.
Speaking after Wednesday’s sentencing hearing Det Ch Insp Jonathan Sygrove said: “It’s hard to imagine the terror the victim felt being shot at with a bow and arrows, then set on with a knife by her own husband.
“This was also a harrowing incident for our officers and control room staff who responded to the 999 call, and their professionalism ensured Carr was promptly located and arrested before anything further could happen.”