‘I thought he was going to choke me to death’
Court hears how battered partner thought brute ‘would kill’
After snapping in a petty row over food, drunken brute Ashley Grime strangled his girlfriend so hard she thought she would die.
With his son inside their Cambridge Street home, 24-yearold Grime repeatedly gripped his terrified partner’s neck, eventually choking her unconscious.
Battered and bruised, she was then made to sleep next to him, with Scarborough magistrates hearing how she “lay in fear” of another attack.
The attack injured her body, especially her neck, which Grime had strangled on three occasions as he chased her around the house – even kicking in doors to get to her.
But when she plucked up the courage to go to police, Grime amazingly claimed he inflicted the wealth of injuries in “self-defence” – and denied assaulting her.
And admitting the attack at Thursday’s Scarborough Magistrates’ Court sentencing, the bench told Grime that custody “was the only option”, especially after he was previously convicted of assaulting her.
That happened in 2009, when Grime received a community order for a “pushing and shoving” match which injured her.
The latest incident was the final straw for the young woman, who, the court heard, hadn’t seen him since the June 10 assault.
That attack started downstairs, where Grime clasped his hands around her neck as she struggled to breathe.
She fled upstairs to try and record her injuries, but he chased her, kicking in the bathroom door and strangling her again.
This time the force of his grip was so severe she was sick.
He then attacked her a third time. This time, she passed out.
“There’s very little I can say about this offence – he knows what he did was wrong.”
Those were the words of his solicitor Caroline Watson, who said booze had played a huge part in the attack.
“He’s deeply ashamed by his actions and he has very little recollection due to the amount of alcohol he consumed.”
She added the apprentice plumber was “terrified” at the thought of going to jail as it would cost him his job.
He had won an award for his skills, and an article in The Scarborough News which highlighted his talent was passed to the bench by Mrs Watson, who added: “He’s extremely remorseful and disgusted by his behaviour.”
The bench suspended his four-month custodial sentence for two years.
He was ordered to pay a total of £315, and handed a community order – which includes a course on how to behave in a relationship.