Thug held mum against her will in four-hour attack ordeal
ATHUG who brutally attacked his ex-lover while holding her against her will has been jailed.
Jake Worsley, 19, punched, strangled and stamped on Bethany Ledgar so hard that footprints were left on her back.
During the terrifying four-hour ordeal Bethany, then 17, was prevented from leaving the house while his mother and the estranged couple’s baby daughter slept upstairs.
Worsley, of London Road, Macclesfield, admitted false imprisonment and assault occa- sioning actual bodily harm at Macclesfield magistrates’ court.
He was sentenced to two and a half years in prison at Chester Crown Court on Thursday.
Sentencing, Judge Roger Dutton, described Worsley’s actions as ‘cowardly bullying’.
The court heard that Worsley’s own mother Victoria Small had described him to police as ‘manipulative and controlling’.
Simon Parry, prosecuting, said the former couple had bumped into each other on a night out in Macclesfield, prompting a row over their daughter.
He said Worsley set off towards his mother’s house on Crawford Avenue where his daughter was staying the night.
He said: “She got a taxi trying to beat him back to the address. She knocked on the front door and Worsley appeared and dragged her in through the back.
“During that four hours downstairs he punched, stamped upon her, placed his hands around her throat and strangled her.”
Mr Parry said Worsley had demonstrated ‘gratuitous degradation’ of his victim.
He said: “Bethany managed to get out of the back door. She scratched his face. He grabbed her and made her promise not to tell the police.”
Bethany suffered injuries to her hand, face and shoulders.
Myles Wilson, defending, said Worsley had displayed ‘a lack of maturity’, adding: “The defendant wanted to talk about his daughter and completely lost his temper.”
Speaking after the hearing Bethany said she was relieved at the sentence and an imposed 10-year restraining order.
She said: “My daughter and I have been through hell because of him.
“I had to leave my home town to get away from everything. Now I can come home and start my life again.”
‘My daughter and I have been through hell because of him’