Jordan Anderson on trial for stabbing at Co Op, Headington, Oxford

Prosecutors said yesterday that the shocking act of violence outside the Co Op in Headington took place as the victim clung to her five-year-old daughter's hand.

As the attack began, jurors were told, the woman fell to the ground in front of the London Road supermarket before she was stabbed over a dozen times, once in the spine, once in the neck, as well as five times to the head.

She was also stabbed in the hand which prosecutors said was an attempt to 'protect herself' from the 'raining blows' as members of the public looked on.

Jordan Anderson has already admitted wounding with intent in relation to the incident that took place at about 3pm on March 12 this year, as well as having an offensive weapon - a knife - and stalking.

The 30-year old of no fixed abode, however, denies one count of attempted murder.

As his trial at Oxford Crown Court got under way yesterday prosecutor Michael Roques, outlining the case, said of the incident: "He confronted [alleged victim] Aleah Masih and was behaving in an aggressive way towards her.

"He pulled out a knife and he stabbed her. She fell to the floor and he continued to stab her repeatedly, raining down blows.

"Witnesses describe these blows as being inflicted with a lot of force and the defendant then fled the scene."

Jurors were told that Ms Masih was quickly rushed to hospital where she was found to have 15 separate stab wounds as a result of the attack.

Referring to a pathologist's analysis of her wounds Mr Roques said that if the knife strikes had been at a 'slightly different angle' the woman would have died from her injuries.

He went on to describe the onslaught as a 'brutal and ferocious attack.'

Jurors also saw a recorded police interview yesterday with the alleged victim who described to officers what she says happened to her.

Recalling the incident she said Anderson had approached her from outside Bury Knowle Park while she was walking with her daughter in hand to her car parked at the Co Op store.

She said: "He asked me to get in the car and said he just wanted to speak and I just shook my head. He asked me if I was pregnant and I said no, he asked me if I was sleeping with anybody and I said no.

"I think I just asked him to go and leave me alone."

She said that another woman who was nearby then intervened and Anderson told her 'she is my baby mum' as the victim began backing away from him.

Describing the ensuing onslaught moments later she said: "I didn't think he was stabbing me at first, I thought he was just punching me in the arm.

"I think he was trying to get to my neck, I was just closing into myself."

Detailing the moments after he had left the scene and with the violence over she said: "I just remember looking up and my daughter was screaming and crying and I remember telling her I was OK.

"I could hear her saying mummy, screaming, and when I looked up she was crying."

She said not long after she remembered 'everything going white' and said she felt like she was floating before she was taken to hospital for treatment.

The court also heard of the run-up to the alleged attempted murder in which Anderson stalked his victim between October 1 last year and the day of the incident in March.

During that ordeal Anderson, who had been in a relationship with the woman for six and a half years, regularly stalked her on social media and via e-mail, allegedly making threats he would 'stab her'.

On one occasion he threatened to post intimate pictures of her on the internet, the court heard, and on another he wrote 'I am going to come to you with a knife and stab you.'

He also created multiple social media accounts to contact her, writing messages to her as the user name, so she had no choice but to see them.

On the day of the knife attack, prosecutors said, he sent her numerous e-mails in the morning asking to meet with her and the police were contacted that day about the ongoing stalking.

Detailing the issue in the case which jurors have to determine prosecutor Roques said the case is about Anderson's state of mind during the attack.

He said: "He accepts that he stabbed her and he accepts having done so 15 times.

"This trial is going to be about what it was that was going through his mind at the time that he inflicted these injuries.

"If you are sure that this defendant intended to murder Aleah Masih then you find him guilty."

Anderson denies attempted murder and the trial continues.