DURHAM MAN THREATENED TO KILL PARTNER IN CHOKEHOLD
A man who grabbed his partner in a chokehold after dragging her to the ground in a drunken rage will have to stay sober over the Christmas period.Benjamin Fellows reacted angrily when she asked him to change the music on his mobile phone while they were drinking at home after their friends left.
Newton Aycliffe Magistrates’ Court heard how the 33-year-old held the woman in the chokehold for several seconds while he threatened to kill her.
Paul Doney, prosecuting, said: “It was like someone had flipped a switch – he went from normal to really angry.
He shouted – ‘I’m going to kill you if you don’t shut the f*** up’.
She says he then pulled, what can only be described as, a demonic face at her.
He has then pulled her onto the floor in a chokehold; he was on top of her and continued to choke her for several seconds.
She had to use all of her strength to get him off her.
Mr Doney said the woman was able to wriggle free and ran to a next-door workingmen’s club to get help.
The court heard how the victim was not wanting to rekindle the relationship with the defendant.
Fellows, of Silloth, Wigton, pleaded guilty to intentional strangulation following the attack on February 15 in his former home in the Durham area.
