MAN JAILED FOR ASSAULTING PARTNER AND THREATENING HER LIFE
A violent man who left his partner fearing for her life after a terrifying attack has been jailed for nearly two years.Stuart Dickson, 33, from Bedlington, launched the assault after a night of drinking, punching and slapping the woman before using his foot to stand on her neck and restrict her breathing.
The victim later described thinking she would lose consciousness and genuinely believed she was going to die.
The incident occurred on May 5, when Dickson became aggressive after a drinks order was cancelled.
Newcastle Crown Court heard how he repeatedly hit the woman, threatened to kill her and her family, and told her he planned to take her to his brother’s home to finish the job.
When no one answered at the brother’s address, they went to a Shell garage, where the woman made a desperate plea for help.
Inside the shop, she begged a worker to lock the door, saying she’d been assaulted.
“Save my life,” she told the assistant, who did exactly that.
Police were called and Dickson was arrested.
In a victim statement, the woman said the abuse had left her traumatised, haunted by flashbacks and gripped by fear of what Dickson might do when released.
She said she often thinks of her children and how close she came to not surviving the night.
She added that if she hadn’t asked for help in the garage, she wouldn’t be alive today.
Dickson, who has 31 previous convictions, admitted assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
He was sentenced to 22 months in prison and given an indefinite restraining order.
The judge described the attack as “effectively strangling” the woman with his foot.
