Attack and acid threat on ex-partner
A violent father-of-five has been jailed for three years after he hit his ex-partner with a metal dog chain and threatened to pour acid on her. Ben Flood, 30, launched a vicious assault on Alma Comer at her Calderdale home last month, but Bradford Crown Court heard that the latest attack was only one of a number of violent incidents.
In February Flood, of Cous- in Lane, Illingworth, was released on licence from prison after serving part of an eightmonth sentence for a previous attack on his former partner, but within weeks he was making contact with her again in breach of a restraining order.
Prosecutor Marie Harbin said the complainant allowed Flood to visit her home that night, but he became aggressive and abusive when they discussed a relationship she had had with another man.
Flood punched his ex in the face and then threw her across the room before telling her: “I’m going to murder you. I’m going to pour acid on you.”
Ms Harbin said Flood left the house for a short time, but when he returned he kicked his victim while she was on the floor and began to hit her with a metal dog chain.
At one stage Flood squeezed her throat and told her: “I hope you die.”
After the alarm was raised at a neighbour’s home police arrived on the scene to find the complainant slumped in the corner of the room with a pool of blood on the floor.
Flood denied being responsible for her injuries during his police interview, but when his case came before the magistrates court he pleaded guilty to charges of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and breaching the restraining order.
Ms Harbin said the complainant’s victim personal statement described how she felt she was going to die.
Barrister Stephen Wood, for Flood, conceded that the defendant’s behaviour had been “utterly appalling and completely unforgivable”.
Mr Wood said Flood had expressed remorse when he was sober and had resigned himself to a lengthy custodial sentence.
“He is resolved to use whatever facilities prison can offer him to address the deep-seated underlying causes of this repeated behaviour,” said Mr Wood.
Judge Jonathan Durham Hall QC noted that Flood’s own hands were injured in a way consistent with him having given his victim a “savage beating” and he said that the defendant would have been jailed for up to four-and-ahalf years if he had been found guilty after a trial.
But he said Flood was entitled to about third off his sentence because of his early guilty pleas and that meant the appropriate prison term for the assault was three years.
The judge imposed a concurrent 12 months in jail for breaching the restraining order.