THE woman victim of an horrific domestic violence assault has discovered her attacker will be freed from jail on Christmas Eve.

Maria Tume, 40, from Bexley, says she was shocked and appalled to find out her former boyfriend Andrew Lammy had appealed against his sentence without her knowledge and had suceeded in getting his sentence reduced and the requirement that he be released on licence revoked.

In 2006 Lammy, of Jubilee Crescent, Gravesend, broke into a house where Ms Tume was sleeping with her new boyfriend and attacked them both.

Her boyfriend suffered severe cuts to his head and face while Ms Tume had a broken nose, fractured upper jaw and cheekbone, damage to her eye socket and left ear, broken fingers and a bruised lung and spleen.

It was the culmination of two years of abuse she had suffered at Lammy’s hands.

Ms Tume has endured two major facial reconstruction operations and has screws and titanium plates holding the left side of her face together.

Now she is selling her home and keeping her teenage daughter’s whereabouts secret, in case Lammy tries to find them, although there are some restrictions on his movements and contacts.

Her former boyfriend, who was attacked, has left the country.

Ms Tume told News Shopper: “I knew he would not be in jail forever. He would have been released in February next year anyway.

“But it ‘s not about him, it’s about taking care of myself, my daughter and my family and keeping us safe.

“I shouldn’t have to take these measure. It is unfair.

“I have been offered panic buttons in my new home, but I don’t want to live like that.”

Ms Tume says she is angry Victim Liaison failed to tell her about Lammy’s appeal so she could have given evidence.

She added: “I am shocked his release on licence has been overturned.”

She has now written to her MP David Evennett, the Home Secretary and Women’s Aid patron Sarah Brown, questioning the right to overturn Lammy’s licence requirement.

Ms Tume said: “Like many other women, I have been let down by the system I expected to protect me.”