THE stepfather of a serviceman who was stabbed by his partner in self-defence has said the family can now grieve properly following an inquest into his death.

Lance Corporal Leslie Metcalfe, 23, of 1st Battalion Royal Tank Regiment, died on March 17 this year after Nichola Herschell stabbed him at her home in Poplar Close, Honington.

Yesterday’s inquest in Bury St Edmunds heard how she was trying to protect her own life and that of her two-year-old son Ryan Watson from a previous relationship.

In police interview Ms Herschell had said L-Cpl Metcalfe, who was from Bootle in Merseyside, had become violent towards her after returning home drunk in the early hours of March 16.

She had said he held a knife about two to three inches from Ryan’s head and told the crying child to shut up “or something is going to happen”.

As soon as she gained possession of the knife, she said, he put both of his hands around her throat, and in the struggle she jabbed at him with the knife.

The inquest heard how the main cause of death was a stab wound to the heart.

Suffolk Coroner Dr Peter Dean recorded a narrative verdict and said: “Leslie Metcalfe died from stab wounds inflicted in self-defence in a struggle in which the other person feared for her life.”

Afterwards, the soldier’s stepfather, Joseph Sweeney, said: “Whatever decision was made in there it’s not going to bring him back.”

He added: “We just wanted for it to sort of be over and we can grieve properly and we can do that now.”

He also said the family were “not really bothered for retribution or anything like that”.

Detective Inspector David Giles, from CID in Bury St Edmunds, read statements from a number of witnesses, including neighbour Daniel Plummer who heard Ms Herschell’s screams.

He heard her using words along the lines of ‘leave me alone’ or ‘get away from me’ and ‘no’ or ‘please’.

“It was certainly a desperate tone, not a jokey one,” he said in his statement.

Mr Plummer called the police and while he was on the phone to them he saw L-Cpl Metcalfe come out of the door saying “my girlfriend has stabbed me”.

L-Cpl Metcalfe, who had served in Iraq and Afghanistan, was taken to West Suffolk Hospital in Bury before being transferred to Papworth Hospital in Cambridge, where he was pronounced dead at about 10pm on March 17.

Consultant forensic pathologist Nat Cary told the inquest there had been three stab wounds, but the main cause of death was given as the stab wound to the heart.

He also told the inquest how L-Cpl Metcalfe was about three times over the drink-drive limit.

DI Giles said in police interview Ms Herschell had said there had been “previous incidents of violence where he had been drinking alcohol”.

Ms Herschell, who had been in a relationship with L-Cpl Metcalfe since June 2010, said he had been upset she had not kissed him goodbye when he went to the Corporals’ Mess prior to the incident which ended in his death.

The inquest heard that while M-Cpl Metcalfe had his own accommodation at RAF Honington he mostly stayed at her home address.

The Crown Prosecution Service felt no charges should be brought against Ms Herschell.