Mansfield man attacked girlfriend for second time and left her fearing for her life

Unemployed Ashley Ward was drinking with the woman, who was financially supporting him, in the Devonshire Arms, Sutton, on April 11, last year, when he became agitated as they discussed a job interview.

After they returned to her home, he told her to get out of his face and threw a shoe-rack at her, prosecutor Ricardo Childs told Nottingham Crown Court.

She deflected it and tried to push him out of the house.

But Ward, aged 31, punched her several times in her face, leaving her with a fractured cheekbone, cuts to her upper lip, a laceration above her eye lid and a black eye.

“On the night of the incident I struggled mentally and physically,” she said in a statement.

“I was in fear for my life. I was in agony.”

The court heard Ward was cautioned for assault causing actual bodily harm when he injured her in 2020.

Initially she didn't want to make a complaint but later said she took him back because she was scared of him. Now she says their four-year relationship is over.

Ward, now of Mount Street, Mansfield, changed his plea to guilty in October after initially denying assault causing actual bodily harm in August.

David Scothern, mitigating, said it was “out of character for someone who had never had any involvement with the police until 2020.”

“He recognises he has a problem with his anger. This is a man who is crying out for help in addressing it. He does regret what happened and is ashamed.”

Mr Scotthern said Ward, now living with his mother, was unemployed after a decade working for the same company and has since left other jobs because he was unable to cope.

On Thursday, Mr Recorder Stuart Sprawson told him: “"There are demons in your life which caused you to behave in a criminal way."

He sentenced him to 12 months in prison, suspended for 18 months, with eight rehabilitation days and ordered him to undertake the building better relationships course. A 12-month restraining order was also imposed.