A MAN who viciously attacked his ex-partner after they split up has been jailed.
A judge told long distance lorry driver John Andrew Doyle, 46, that it “beggared belief how any man could inflict these sorts of injuries on a vulnerable young woman”.
Doyle, of Longfield, Chirk, admitted assaulting Charlotte Hannah Watkins, 24, occasioning her actual bodily harm, at her home in Glyn Ceiriog, on September 29 last year.
Mold Crown Court heard he forced his way into her home and repeatedly punched and head-butted her.
She was able to escape and seek help the following morning.
The victim feared he intended to kill her during her ordeal, the court heard.
Doyle said he could not remember anything.
Earlier that month he had assaulted Mrs Watkins in the street after tricking her into going to a local bank.
Doyle was jailed for 21 months and a five year restraining order was made under which he is not to approach Mrs Watkins, a divorced mother, in any way.
He was also banned from entering Glyn Ceiriog.
Judge Rhys Rowlands said the first assault happened after Doyle had engineered a situation where he could meet her and was on bail when he was told not to approach her when he went to her home late at night, forced his way in, and attacked her.
“She ran upstairs crying, terrified at the prospect of seeing you again,” the judge said.
He followed her and subjected her to a sustained attack.
“This was a truly appalling attack on a young woman in her own home which left her with extremely unpleasant injuries, which are graphically shown in the photographs,” the judge said.
The victim was half his age and completely unable to defend herself. It had a profound effect upon her.
Emmalyne Downing, prosecuting, said the couple had been in a five month relationship which she ended in August when she saw signs of his temper.
They had met on occasions and on September 9 he contacted her to say he had put money in her account and she should check it urgently.
But as she went to the bank’s cash machine she heard a noise behind her and he was there.
He told her there is nothing in there and he assaulted her by grabbing her arm and twisting it.
She told him he was evil, and he replied that she should watch out and that he would be back.
While on bail late on September 29 she answered the door and Doyle pushed his way in.
He closed the door, locked it and put the key in his pocket.
She ran upstairs crying and he followed right behind her telling her she should not have called the police.
He then punched her in the eye before punching her about eight times and head butting three or four times.
He stopped and sat on the bed speaking to himself, and lit a cigarette.
“The next thing she recalls is being on the bed and he was repeatedly punching her again,” Miss Downing explained.
She blacked out and awoke at 9am the next day. She was lying on the bed and Doyle was in the room with his eyes flickering and she believed he had taken an overdose.
The victim was able to take the keys from his clothes and fled, seeking help from her former husband.
Mrs Watkins ended up with badly bruised and swollen eyes and multiple bruising and swelling to her head and body.
In a victim impact statement she said she had been physically sick, suffered panic attacks and depression and was struggling to sleep. She honestly felt he had intended to kill her.
Mark Connor, defending, said Doyle was brought up in Chirk and ran his own garage business in Spain until he closed it because of the economic crisis.
The relationship with the victim had been a good one with many positive features.
But the relationship became “toxic” for a number of reasons.
Doyle had convictions for violence but they were old, he had been able to turn his life around, and he was very sorry that at this stage in his life when he thought he had put such trouble behind him, that he found himself before the court again.