Man killed girlfriend with mobile phone

Mobile thrown with force at woman’s neck

COURT: A mother-of-two died in the street after her drunken boyfriend threw a mobile phone at her neck, a court heard.

Levi Ogden, 26, suffered a cardiac arrest after she collapsed on the ground in Halifax town centre due to the impact of the phone causing bleeding in her brain, a judge was told.

A MOTHER-OF-TWO died in the street after her drunken boyfriend threw a mobile phone at her neck, a court heard.

Levi Ogden, 26, suffered a cardiac arrest after she collapsed on the ground in Halifax town centre due to the impact of the phone causing bleeding in her brain, a judge was told.

Her partner, Lloyd Birkby, 27, was jailed for five years at Leeds Crown Court yesterday, after he had admitted manslaughter at a previous hearing.

Judge Geoffrey Marson QC was told that the incident, which was captured on CCTV, happened as an argument developed during a night out in Halifax in November last year.

Judge Marson said: “You will have to carry with you the knowledge that you have deprived the children of their mother.

“And it will no doubt affect them throughout the whole of their lives.”

The court heard that Birkby, of Langdale Street, Elland, had a history of domestic violence against Ms Ogden, serving a number of prison sentences for battery, and with the police being called to their home about 20 times.

Dafydd Enoch QC, prosecuting, described how the “tragic, violent incident” happened in the early hours of November 3 last year.

Mr Enoch said an altercation developed between the defendant and Ms Ogden, who was with her friend, Courtney Bland.

He said Birkby walked away but then returned in a “clearly angry frame of mind”.

After kicking a passing taxi, he picked up a phone which was lying on the ground.

Mr Enoch said Ms Ogden was about 6ft to 8ft away when Birkby threw the phone “with as much force as he could muster”.

He said Ms Ogden staggered for a few seconds and then “collapsed in a heap on the floor”.

He added that the force of the blow plus the violent twisting of Ms Ogden’s neck caused the bleeding in her brain.

Stephen Wood, defending, said the death “could not have been reasonably foreseen”.

Birkby was given a sentence of two months in prison for assaulting Ms Bland to run concurrently with the five years for manslaughter.