HAMMER HORROR
Thug jailed for life for attack on girlfriend with claw of household tool
A SAVAGE who tried to murder his girlfriend by raining down blows to her head and face with a claw hammer has been jailed for life.
Brutal Michael Park repeatedly struck Claire Holmes with the claw end of the tool in her Newcastle home while screaming “I’m going to kill you”.
The terrifying thug, who had an eye plucked out with a fork in 2003 by an attacker who then handed the body part back to him, struck without warning in August.
Newcastle Crown Court heard the hammer blows caused complex fractures to the 39-year-old victim’s cheek, eye socket and jaw which had to be fixed with plates and screws under general anaesthetic.
She also suffered six separate, deep, lacerations, including wounds that were down to the bone and resulted in flaps of skin hanging from her face.
Afterwards Park was heard in the street saying “I’ve killed her, I’m going to jail for murder. I’ve killed Claire, I’m going to jail for a long time.”
Now he has been told he must serve at least seven years of a life sentence after he pleaded guilty to attempted murder.
The court heard Park, 39, had been in a relationship with his victim for around nine months.
Park, who had post-traumatic stress disorder, mental health problems, a history of violence and was a heavy drinker, had moved in to Miss Holmes’ family home in Walker.
Prosecutor Jolyon Perks said he had become “controlling” and while Miss Holmes wanted to help him she was “unsure, once he moved in, as to how to get him to leave again.”
The court heard that on August 26 the couple were at home together and Park had been drinking before he attacked Miss Holmes in the kitchen.
Mr Perks told the court: “The defendant had ran into the room, holding the claw hammer, which belonged to her. “She describes him looking angry. “He ran at her and started to attack her with the hammer.
“While the defendant hit her, he was screaming and shouting ‘I’m going to kill you, I’m going to kill you.’”
The court heard Miss Holmes escaped and got help, despite being hit around seven or eight times.
Park claimed Miss Holmes had been “pretending” to love him and said “I’m glad I’ve done it, she deserves to be dead.”
Miss Holmes said she has been left in constant pain and can no longer fully open her mouth.
She said in a statement: “I believe I will never fully recover. I have permanent scarring to my face. I feel ugly.
“I wake two to three times per night. I have repeated dreams of Michael attacking people with a hammer.”
As well as the prison sentence, Park was given a lifelong restraining order to keep him away from Miss Holmes. Sentencing him, Judge Paul Sloan QC said: “You ran at her and set about her with the claw end of the hammer, while at the same time shouting and screaming that you were going to kill her. You targeted her head and face. “Some lacerations were down to the bone. The photographs show the extent of the disfigurement you caused. “In my judgement, this was a spontaneous attempt to kill, which has resulted in serious and long term physical and psychological harm. He added: “In my judgement, you do continue to represent a significant risk to the public and will do so for an indefinite period.” Glenn Gatland, defending, said Park had a troubled childhood and lost his eye in 2003 after he was attacked at a takeaway. He added Park had sought help and had wanted to go into rehab before the hammer attack. Mr Gatland added: “He is very sorry. He wants to say to Claire Holmes how very sorry he is, he himself having been through a trauma in the past, he knows the effect, the mental effect, it has on people.”
While the defendant hit her, he was screaming and shouting ‘I’m going to kill you, I’m going to kill you’ Jolyon Perks