Man jailed for cowardly attack

A WORKSOP man who put his girlfriend in hospital has been jailed after a judge branded him a coward.

Lee Stanley, 39, of Hardwick Crescent, attacked Michelle Hennell at her home in Lincoln after earlier threatening her in a phone call, Lincoln Crown Court heard.

Andrew Scott, prosecuting, said the couple, who were colleagues, argued during the day. Ms Hennell asked a friend to text Stanley saying she did not want to speak to him.

He then rang her threatening ‘you will die for this’ before going to her home and waiting for her. He tried to hug her when she returned but was told to leave.

“He then carried out a sustained attack,” said Mr Scott. “She lost count of the number of times he punched her. She was headbutted and when she went to the floor he hit her and kicked her.”

“Eventually the attack came to a halt. The defendant took her mobile to prevent her from calling her son but then appears to have come to his senses and offered to take her to hospital.”

Ms Hennell was taken to Lincoln Hospital by a neighbour with a black eye and bruising to her face, neck and shoulder and was kept in overnight.

Stanley went home before handing himself in to police. In interview he was unable to explain what he did, but said he had been suffering from depression.

He admitted assault occasioning actual bodily harm on 22nd July. The court heard he had two previous convictions for assaults on women.

Andrew Kerrigan, defending, said he had offered ‘no excuses’ for his behaviour and had ‘expressed remorse’.

Jailing him for 21 months, Judge Sean Morris told Stanley: “You went round there and when you got her on her own you beat her up in her own home. It is the act of a coward. It is not the act of a man.”