Woman buried alive used engagement ring to escape

A woman who was buried alive in a cardboard box told a jury yesterday how she used her engagement ring to free herself.

Polish-born Michelina Lewandowska, 27, alleged that her partner – with whom she has a three-year-old son – put her in the box in woods near Huddersfield after attacking her with a Taser gun and leaving her bound and gagged. She said through an interpreter: "I thought about my ring, that I could take it off my finger and try to cut through the tape with it. I cut the tape from my legs with this ring... then I put my hand through the opening." She said she tore the box apart and added: "I managed to get half of my body out. I was lying on the ground. I was talking to myself, keep going."

She then stumbled down a road and stopped a passing motorist. Her partner Marcin Kasprzak, 25, and Patryk Borys, 18, deny trying to murder Ms Lewandowska in May.

Earlier, Jonathan Sharp, for the prosecution, told jurors: "This case is about a young man who got bored with his partner and decided to get rid of her." The trial continues at Leeds Crown Court.