‘Jealous and controlling’ Derbyshire thug who attacked his ex-partner CAN see his son on his release from prison, says judge

The thug, in his 20s, from the Alfreton area, was jailed for three years at Derby Crown Court in March.

He pleaded guilty to two assaults occasioning actual bodily harm, criminal damage and two counts of assaulting a police constable.

He was also handed a restraining order which banned him from any contact with his former partner and their child for five years.

Mr Justice Goss told London’s Appeal Court today how the couple separated because of his ‘jealous and controlling behaviour’.

Earlier this year, his ex was at a friend’s house when he began sending her threatening text messages.

She took the threats seriously and went home and stayed in her son’s bedroom.

At 11pm, the man began repeatedly knocking on the door, threatening to break the window if he wasn’t allowed in.

He eventually smashed the kitchen window, burst into the room where she was holding their son and launched a ‘sustained and brutal attack’.

He grabbed his ex by the throat and pushed her onto the bed, said the judge.

She thought she was going to die and her son was screaming that his dad was ‘hurting his mum’.

He bit her on the forehead and, when she managed to get out of the house, he took hold of her pony tail and dragged her back, kneeing her in the face.

When police arrived they found him standing over the victim.

He was aggressive, spitting at one officer and threatening to ‘nut them’.

He aimed a headbutt at one of the constables and kicked out at a female officer.

His ex-partner said she was ‘terrified’ of him and what he would do when he was released from custody.

Their son still wakes up screaming ‘daddy pulled your hair’, the court heard.

The man’s barrister, Lauren Sharkey, did not appeal against his jail term today, but argued the restraining order in relation to his son should not have been imposed.

Mr Justice Goss agreed, saying that, on his release from prison, any contact between father and son would be closely monitored by social services.

“We consider it was wrong of the sentencing judge in the circumstances to extend the restraining order to contact with the son,” he concluded.

The judge, sitting with Mr Justice Jeremy Baker, allowed the appeal.