Drunken Derbyshire thug threatened to kill woman during series of attacks

Paul Mordue broke his victim’s ankle and on other occasions he punched her to the face and the body, leaving her with black eyes.

The 54-year-old, of Far Laund, also held a knife to the woman’s throat and left the victim fearing she ‘might be killed’.

Jailing Mordue for 15 months, Judge Nirmal Shant QC said: “These were nasty and sustained assaults leaving her with some injuries. On one occasion you grabbed her by the throat and pushed her in such a way that she broke her ankle.

“On another you punched her to the face once and on another you punched her several times. And on a third occasion you pushed her back and then punched her to the side of the face.”

Noel Philo, prosecuting at Derby Crown Court, said the first attack happened at Mordue’s mother’s home address in Birmingham in June 2016.

He said: “It caused her to lose consciousness after a fight where he grabbed her by the throat and when she woke up she discovered she had a broken ankle.”

Mr Philo said the other assaults took place at an address in Holbrook in March and April this year.

He said: “During one argument he punched her to the face and then punched her several times to the face during another fight. When the police arrived at that incident the victim ran out of the address and said the defendant had been holding a knife to her throat. She said she felt she might be killed at his hands and in her victim personal statement she tells how he is violent towards her.”

Mordue pleaded guilty to one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and three counts of common assault against the same woman.

Michelle Harding, for Mordue, said her client’s ‘best mitigation was his early guilty plea’.

She said: “In effect he’s a binge drinker and a ‘nasty drunk’ in his own words.

“He drinks to deal with abuse he says he received from a family member in childhood.”

“He also drinks to deal with a previous conviction for which he received an 18-month custodial sentence when he was much younger.

“That offence saw two people killed and he tells me he struggles to cope with the effects that has on him.

“He tells me it should have been him that was killed instead of those two people.”

Mordue was also handed an indefinite restraining order not to contact the victim.