Brute jailed for attacks
GIRLFRIEND FEARED SHE WOULD DIE
A HAMMER attacker chillingly produced plastic sheeting to wrap his girlfriend’s body in while threatening to kill her as he beat her.
Mark Oliver subjected Natalie Inskip to a terrifying attack sparked by a petty row over cigarettes.
For 90 minutes, he hit his lover with the claw hammer and she genuinely believed she was going to die.
A court heard she was told she was not going to leave his house alive and that he would wrap her dead body in the plastic sheeting.
Now the 31-year-old, of Waterloo Street, Newcastle, has been jailed for four-and-a-half years at Newcastle Crown Court.
He had been in a relationship with 25-year-old Miss Inskip for a couple of months when trouble flared on November 28 last year.
She was at his flat around 1am when he accused her of taking his cigarettes, which she denied, but he lost his temper.
Glenn Gatland, prosecuting, said: “The next thing she knew he was holding a hammer.
“He then attacked her, hitting her repeatedly to the back of the thighs with the hammer.
“He went to another room before shortly returning with a large plastic sheet used to protect furniture while decorating.
“He pointed the hammer at her and said ‘I’m going to kill you’ then repeatedly hit her again.
“He said she was not leaving the house alive and told her he was going to cave her head in and wrap her in the sheet. Miss Inskip described being terrified and genuinely believed her life was in danger.”
She desperately searched for his cigarettes to try to calm him down but as she looked he repeatedly struck her with the hammer on her arms, legs and body.
She tried to open windows to shout for help and Oliver struck her on the back with the hammer.
Mr Gatland said: “At that point he stopped hitting her and she was trying to scream for help.
“He said ‘I wouldn’t do that if I was you, you do realise you are not getting out of here alive. I’m going to kill you.”
He kept shouting for her to find his cigarettes and only calmed down after she gave him her vape.
He then gave her the hammer and said he was not going to hit her anymore.
Miss Inskip was afraid to use the hammer against him in case it provoked more violence from him.
She planned to wait for him to fall asleep before trying to escape, however she dozed off.
She woke up before him in the morning and fled and called the police.
The court heard she was left with significant bruising to her legs, arms, back and face, with two black eyes and “what appears to be a foot mark on her forehead” and was taken to hospital.
Mr Gatland said Miss Inskip was left “terrified” by the shocking ordeal.
He said: “She was in complete shock, felt very scared that he would try to find her and hurt her again and that the next time she would not get away.
“The attack terrified her, she had never experienced that level of violence, she was shocked he used the hammer to assault her.”
Oliver pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm and threats to kill.
The court heard he has previous for abusive and threatening behaviour towards women.
He was jailed for 10 months in 2017 after telling an ex he would kill her and her son after she told the police he had assaulted her.
Sue Hirst, defending, said:“The defendant is extremely remorseful about this.
“He accepts he has a problem in respect of his relationships with women. He attributes his behaviour to using drugs.