A MOTHER-OF-TWO stabbed seven times by her former partner died from internal injuries, an inquest heard.

Julie Anne Mordue, 38, was attacked in her kitchen after she returned home from work by former boyfriend Nigel John McLean, 40, on April 21.

Neighbours told the inquest that they heard Mrs Mordue scream seconds after she entered her home in Vicars Croft, Northallerton, North Yorkshire.

They said she had begged Mr McLean “not to do it”.

One neighbour, June Collin, saw her try to run out into the garden before she was dragged back into the house by her hair.

Ms Collin described how Mr McLean then used Mrs Mordue’s body to shut the back door, before he pinned her up against it and appeared to punch her several times.

A post-mortem examination found that Mrs Mordue had been forcefully stabbed seven times in her back and abdomen.

Her liver, kidneys, small and large intestines and two major arteries were all damaged, leading to massive internal bleeding.

She died in the Friarage Hospital, Northallerton, soon after.

Mrs Mordue left two children, Sophie, 15, and Ian, 11, whose father, Stuart Mordue, died five years ago in a motorcycle accident.

They are now being cared for by Mrs Mordue’s sister, Louise Russell.

Mrs Mordue, a kitchen assistant at Allertonshire School, in Northallerton, is believed to have separated from Mr McLean two weeks before her death.

A police officer who attended the scene described finding Mrs Mordue and Mr McLean in a “forced embrace”

and covered in blood.

PC Simon Williams told the inquest that when he arrived, Mrs Mordue was laid on her back, with Mr McLean laid beside her appearing to hold her down by leaning his weight across her chest.

Mrs Mordue told PC Williams that Mr McLean had stabbed her before he turned the knife on himself, cutting his wrists.

Mr McLean hanged himself with a bedsheet while on remand in Durham Prison.