‘It was just you & her in the street...and you had your penis in your hand’

A MAN masturbated in front of a stranger in the street just hours after he strangled his girlfriend at home.

Thomas Crux, 33 ( right), was involved in an argument with his lover in May last year which led to him pinning her to the floor and strangling her in her own flat.

Chelmsford Crown Court heard he only stopped when three passers-by saw what was happening and intervened.

Crux and his partner had attended a fancy dress party before ending up back at her flat. He had been drinking “quite a lot”.

“You go to the toilet and get your penis out, which you said was because you needed the loo. That caused her to say, ‘I don’t want to have sex with you tonight’,” Judge Peters explained.

“You grabbed her arm and pinned her to the floor. She was crying saying, ‘Get off me,’ and you shouted at her, ‘I’m going to kill you’.”

A 16-year-old male was walking home from work at the time of the incident when he heard the woman screaming.

He was joined by two other passers-by, and the three people pulled the entire window out of its frame to save her.

Crux left the flat at 2.30am in the direction of Victoria Road where a woman was walking home alone.

“She heard heavy breathing, it was just you and her in the street and you had your penis in your hand,” Judge Peters continued.

Crux was handed a six-year custodial sentence for grievous bodily harm with intent, and a four-year extended licence period.

He was also given two years for a threat to kill, 16 months for actual bodily harm, six months for exposure and three months for criminal damage.