Settrington man jailed for strangling ex-girlfriend and attacking her friend

SETTRINGTON MAN JAILED FOR STRANGLING EX-GIRLFRIEND AND ATTACKING HER FRIEND

A “DEMON”who strangled his ex-partner until she lost consciousness and injured her friend has been jailed.

Just days before Benjamin Dyball burst into the house where he attacked both women, a court had given him a chance by not sending him to prison for an earlier attack on his ex-girlfriend.

Nathan Davis, prosecuting, said when Dyball put both hands round her neck the ex-girlfriend blacked out and when she came round her vision was “blurry” and she was struggling to breathe.

She was still drifting in and out of consciousness when police and paramedics attended after Dyball had changed his shirt and left.

“He turned into this demon,” she told York Crown Court in a personal statement.

“I was so frightened, I honestly believed I would die that night.

“It is not the first time he has strangled me, but it is the first time I felt the life drain out of me.

“I am not sure I will ever get over what Benjamin did to me.” Dyball, 36, of Settrington near Malton, pleaded guilty to a single incident of non-fatal strangulation and actual bodily harm of his ex-girlfriend and assaulting her friend.

All the offences were committed on April 2.

The Recorder of York, Judge Sean Morris described his actions as “self-centred, self-pitying violent behaviour” adding that Dyball had “no regard for court orders”.

He jailed Dyball for 30 months, including four weeks previously suspended and banned him from any contact with the ex-girlfriend for eight years under a restraining order.

The four weeks was part of eight weeks’ imprisonment suspended for 18 months imposed on March 27 by Scarborough magistrates for causing criminal damage to his ex-girlfriend’s door and assaulting her.

Dyball had admitted both offences.