FLEETWOOD FATHER JOSEPH RICK LANGLEY STRANGLES AND PUNCHES 17-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER IN DRUG-INDUCED RAGE

In the coastal town of Fleetwood, a disturbing incident unfolded in which a father, Joseph Rick Langley, 40, subjected his teenage daughter to a brutal assault that left her with visible injuries. The assault occurred in the early hours of July 24, 2021, following a night of heavy drinking and drug use, and has since drawn significant attention due to Langley's troubled history and the severity of the attack.

According to court reports, Langley had just been acquitted of an earlier assault charge at Blackpool Magistrates Court on July 23, 2020. The incident involved him allegedly assaulting a woman, a charge he was found not guilty of after a trial. Following this legal victory, Langley celebrated by going out drinking at a local pub. Later that night, he returned to his residence on Walmsley Street in Fleetwood, where the violence against his daughter took place.

At the time, the teenage girl was engaged in playing FIFA on her Xbox console. She recounted that her father arrived home intoxicated, and she suspected he was under the influence of drugs as well. She described him as being visibly drunk, having returned with a friend, and engaging in a fight with the friend before eventually falling asleep on the sofa. The girl explained, “He came home and he was drunk. I’m pretty sure he was on drugs that night. He came home with his mate and had a fight with him, and then he went to sleep on the couch.”

What followed was a violent outburst that lasted approximately twenty minutes. The girl detailed that her father woke up, went upstairs, and then returned downstairs, making strange comments about a bag on the floor that was not there. Suddenly, he began to get aggressive, getting in her face and initiating physical violence. She described the assault vividly: “He started getting in my face, and then he just started punching me.”

The court heard that during the attack, Langley used cushions as weapons, hitting his daughter with them, and then proceeded to put his hands around her neck in a strangling attempt. The girl attempted to defend herself by kicking him and pushing him away with her feet, but Langley persisted. She recounted, “He got a cushion from the back of the sofa and started whacking me with that. Then he pulled me up off the chair by my hair and strangled me, and pushed me up against the wall with his hand around my throat. Then it was just more punches, and I don’t know what happened after that.”

Eventually, the girl managed to escape the flat and sought help from her mother, who promptly contacted the police. Initially, Langley denied any involvement in the assault, but he later changed his plea to guilty at Preston Crown Court on September 1, 2021. He admitted to causing actual bodily harm (ABH) to his daughter and was sentenced to 20 months in prison.

The aftermath of the attack has had a profound impact on the young girl, who revealed that she now suffers from anxiety and depression, conditions that have worsened since the incident. She expressed feelings of betrayal and disappointment, stating, “If I think about it, it makes me angry because he tried to make out he didn’t do it at first. It was like he was trying to get away with it.”

She also reflected on her relationship with her father, saying, “I thought I was really close with him, although I only saw him once every other month. But I looked up to him. I thought he was perfect — but then I realised.” She admitted to struggling with whether to continue seeing him, questioning his remorse, and ultimately concluded that she could never forgive him for what he had done. Her words underscore the deep emotional scars left by the violent episode in Fleetwood.