WICKFORD MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO STRANGLING WOMAN AND ASSAULT
A south Essex man will spend Christmas behind bars after he pleaded guilty to attacking the same woman on two occasions.Domestic abuser Jimmy Whiteman, 24, of Barbour Green, Wickford, was remanded to custody and warned to expect a prison sentence after he admitted he had strangled his victim.
But sentencing was adjourned to the new year, pending a probation pre-sentence report.
Whiteman pleaded guilty at Basildon Crown Court to assaulting a female and causing her actual bodily harm (ABH) in March, and intentionally strangling the same female victim in May.
“It is a serious matter,” said Judge Shane Collery KC.
“Putting your hands around someone’s throat is seriously violent and it is aggravated by the fact that it is in a domestic context,” he said.
He had also been shown a photograph of the victim with an injury to her eye.
“It is a nasty bruise,” said the judge.
“Nobody deserves that.
I think it is very likely the court will be considering a sentence of immediate imprisonment.” Whiteman was originally also facing a charge of committing an act with intent to pervert the course of justice.
He was accused of contacting the victim and telling her she would have to be careful if he ended up in prison because other people knew where she lived.
But the Crown Prosecution Service said both it and the victim were content with the plea bargain under which Whiteman admitted the ABH and strangulation charges on Monday (November 24).
His sentencing hearing was scheduled for the week commencing January 5.
