A teacher whose boyfriend broke her neck and left her paralysed when she threatened to leave him wept as she told jurors how she felt her body was “going numb with each crack”.

Trudi Burgess, 56, said she felt like her head was being “folded into her body” as Robert Easom flew into “an uncontrollable rage” when she suggested they break up.

The widowed mother of two likened her “monster” partner’s strength to that of the Hulk and said she thought she was going to die during the bedroom assault in February.

In pre-recorded evidence which was played to Preston Crown Court on Friday, Ms Burgess told how she met Easom – who had been working as her sister’s landscape gardener – after her husband died of cancer.

The court heard that after initially “falling in love”, he became abusive and violent towards her, before inflicting the life-changing injury, which has left her unable to walk and in need of around-the-clock care.

Ms Burgess said Easom became angry after she suggested they break up while they were at his home in Chipping, Lancashire.

“I told him ‘I will stay. I love you. Please do not hurt me. Everything is fine.’ But he did not calm down,” she said.

Ms Burgess said that she was on the bed on her knees when Easom, also 56, pinned her down and shouted abuse at her.

She added: “I started to scream ‘don’t hurt me, don’t hurt me’ but he was like the Hulk in those rages.

“It happened so fast. He put both his hands on the top of the back of my head and started to push down. I tried to scream but I could not scream. I have never felt a force like it. He pushed my head down and down and I could not say ‘stop’.

“I tried to say ‘you are killing me’ but he kept pushing down and I felt like my head was being folded into my body.

“I heard a crack and had the feeling of all feeling going out of my body. I was going numb with each crack.”

Sarah Magill, prosecuting, previously told the court Ms Burgess is now tetraplegic as a result, meaning she has paralysis of all four limbs and pelvic organs, and needs help performing everyday tasks.

Speaking of how they met after her husband’s death, she said: “He offered his condolences and offered to do little jobs.

“They fell in love. It was initially everything she wanted – heady, loving and passionate but he became abusive and violent.”

By February this year, after two separate assaults, which Easom has now also admitted, Ms Burgess had decided to leave him, it was heard.

But Ms Magill told the court his reaction was one of “sheer, blind rage” which was “uncontrollable”.

After the assault, Easom eventually called 999 and told the operator Ms Burgess had fallen out of bed when they were “mollycoddling”, it was heard.

He is also accused of telling her sister: “It’s just a horrible frolic that’s gone horribly and accidentally wrong and no one feels worse about it than me.”

The court heard Ms Burgess is in “constant pain” and has described her body as feeling like she is in a “suit of armour that is two sizes too small”.

In a statement to police after his arrest, Easom said he “loved Trudi more than life itself” and would never do anything to hurt her intentionally.

He has admitted to two previous assaults causing actual bodily harm to Ms Burgess.

Easom has also admitted causing grievous bodily harm for breaking her neck, but insists he did not intend to seriously injure her.

The trial continues.