Ashfield thug only stopped strangling girlfriend because he wanted a cigarette

Vladimir Kacailo’s partner had blamed him for a lack of food and electricity when he punched her in the arm and leg, leaving her with “multiple serious bruises”, at her home in Hucknall, on January 3, Nottingham Crown Court heard.

David Allan, prosecuting, said the 20-year-old then grabbed her neck and put his hand over her mouth and nose until she blacked out, before "snapping out of it” and asking for a cigarette.

Mr allan said Kacailo “chatted as though nothing had happened" before his victim called 999 from her cousin’s home.

In a statement, she said: “I genuinely thought I was going to die and I felt like my life was flashing before my eyes.

“I honestly believed he wanted to kill me and the only reason he didn't is because he wanted a cigarette. I never want to see him again.”

The court heard that when Kacailo was spotted by police, nine days later, he pulled a balaclava over his head, climbed a wall and tried to escape through a florist’s shop.

He told officers he was in Manchester at the time, but later admitted assault causing actual bodily harm, intentional strangulation and breaching a restraining order.

The attack happened while Kacailo was serving a suspended sentence for breaking into her home in May last year, when he grabbed her by the hair and made her watch as he cut himself with a kitchen knife before punching her in the face.

The court heard he has 41 previous convictions, including 28 for violence, dating back to when he was aged just 10.

Julia King, mitigating, said Kacailo, of Alfred Street, Kirkby, was "a troubled child who became a troubled young man”.

He arrived in the UK from Latvia, aged seven, and was repeatedly assaulted by his mother and taken into care, she said.

Ms King said his ex-partner invited him to resume their five-year relationship last September. He now takes new medication for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and hopes to break his offending.

Mr Recorder Stuart Sprawson jailed Kacailo for 28 months. New immigration rules trigger automatic deportation for sentences over 12 months.