MAN SENTENCED TO FIVE YEARS FOR ASSAULTS ON PARTNER
Update 03/04/2026: James Wheatley-Taylor was jailed for five years last December for the attack on the woman in her Hartlepool home.But his punishment has now been increased to an extended sentence of nine years.
It includes five years’ jail but with a four-year extended license period after senior government lawyer, the Solicitor General, referred the case to the Court of Appeal under the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme.
Wheatley-Taylor, 36, was originally sentenced on December 3 at Grimsby Crown Court for criminal damage, intentional strangulation and arson.
The court heard he subjected his ex-partner to a vicious attack in her Hartlepool home last April, squeezing her neck and restricting her breathing for 40 seconds.
Later that month he attempted to set fire to the victim’s flat after she had asked him to leave following a row.
She suffered burns to her hand.
Before the incidents, Wheatley-Taylor, from Daventry in West Northamptonshire, had smashed her windows.
He had 21 convictions for 31 offences on his record, including for previous domestic violence.
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A man responsible for a brutal assault on his partner, during which he strangled her until she nearly lost consciousness, has been sentenced to five years in prison.
James Wheatley-Taylor, aged 36 and residing in Daventry, West Northamptonshire, appeared at Teesside Crown Court on Wednesday, 3rd December.
He admitted to charges including deliberate strangulation, arson intended to threaten life, possession of Class A drugs, and arson with recklessness about endangering lives.
The incident occurred at the victim’s residence in Hartlepool.
During a dispute on Thursday, 10th April, he attacked her by grasping her neck and restricting her airflow for around 40 seconds.
The following day, on Friday, 25th April, he made an attempt to set her flat on fire by igniting a bin in her bedroom after she asked him to leave.
During her efforts to extinguish the flames, she sustained a burn on her hand.
