Hughes pulled a machete on Maddy Brown, permanently scarring her and offered her money to keep quiet but didn’t know she recorded his voice as he was offering to bribe her.

“A man sliced his ex-girlfriend’s hand with a machete and attempted to bribe her so she would not report him to the authorities.

Kelly Hughes pulled a machete on Maddy Brown in March, permanently scarring her. He later offered her money to keep quiet  but didn’t know Maddy recorded his voice as he was offering to bribe her. She later reported to the police.

“Hughes, 20, was handed a 14-month sentence on Wednesday, December 15, but was released straight afterward because he had already spent eight months on remand.

Caernarfon Crown Court heard how Hughes seemed a ‘decent, pleasant and easy-going boy’ when Maddy first met him about 11 months ago.

The court heard how they became involved in a romantic relationship for a few months before they broke up.

On the night, Hughes attacked Maddy, they had been having drinking near the town of Colwyn Bay, in Wales.

When Maddy’s cousin came to take her home, Hughes started to demand the cousin take him to Colwyn Bay where he planned to meet someone else for a fight.

Maddy told the court: ‘I continued to tell [Hughes] that we weren’t dropping him off but he became aggressive and abusive towards my cousin so he agreed to drop him off just to shut him up.

‘Once we got into Colwyn Bay we saw the lad he was meant to be fighting, along with many other people and he insisted that we carry on driving as he was scared to get out of the car.’

‘This is when things took a ‘drastic change’, according to Maddy, and Hughes took the machete out from where it was hidden in his trousers.

Maddy was ‘shocked beyond words’ to discover Hughes even had the weapon as she had been with him all night without noticing it.

She said: ‘His attitude and behaviour scared me. Kelly refused to leave the car unless I came with him.’

Maddy tried to protect herself from the machete, around one foot long, by blocking it with her hand but it went straight through her hand twice.

She was left with gaping wounds and needed 11 stitches.

The court heard Hughes did not intend to slice Maddy’s hand.

Maddy told the court: ‘I have become very nervous around sudden movements and suffer from pain in my hand. I have nightmares and panic attacks.’

Speaking about Hughes’ call the next day, Maddy said: ‘It was obvious he only thought about himself. I am scarred for life and could have lost my hand, but all he could think about was getting away without punishment.’

Hughes was also handed a five-year restraining order banning him from any contact with Maddy.