Drunken thug who beat up woman ‘for voting for Labour’
JON MACPHERSON
ADRUNKEN thug assaulted a woman the day after the General Election and as he squeezed her cheek warned her ‘This is what you get for voting Labour’.
Robert Charles Cochrane, 36, repeatedly punched, slapped and ‘threw around’ the victim at her home on Frederick Street in Oswaldtwistle after letting himself into her house in the early hours of June 10 this year.
Burnley Crown Court heard how Cochrane woke her up on the settee and became argumentative, before - ‘without provocation’ - punching and slapping her across the face.
Stephen Parker, prosecuting, said he then squeezed her cheek before saying ‘This is what you get for voting Labour’.
Judge Andrew Woolman said it was an ‘unusual reason to commit a domestic assault’.
The court heard that the father-of-two then refused to let her out of her home for 90 minutes and ‘threw her around the living room’ shouting ‘I’m going to kill you’.
Mr Parker said the victim was left ‘extremely scared’ by Cochrane’s actions and she eventually managed to flee the home in her nightie and sought refuge at a cousin’s home. She suffered a burst lip and bruises to her arms, the court heard.
After a few hours she returned to her house to find the property ‘trashed’ with clothing set on fire near the front door and some items thrown out of the window.
The court was told how her television, laptop and kitchen plates were smashed, bedding had been thrown out of her window into the back garden and a full wheelie bin had been overturned.
Mr Parker said the victim told the police she ‘had no idea why the defendant behaved as he did’ but that he ‘can become violent when he drinks’.
The court was told how Cochrane was arrested the following evening at a pub in Accrington and he became abusive to police.
He shouted: “This is b*** s***. Send me to prison. F*** you all.” The court was told how Cochrane is now ‘thoroughly ashamed’ of his actions.
Cochrane, of no fixed abode, pleaded guilty to arson, common assault and criminal damage.
The defendant, who has 16 previous convictions for 17 offences, was jailed for nine months and given a restraining order.