Mansfield MMA fighter jailed for brutal attack on ex-partner as she cared for their baby
A mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter from Mansfield who fractured his ex-partner's jaw in a brutal attack while she was caring for their baby daughter has been locked up.
Luke Webster's partner got out of bed to prepare a bottle of formula for their four-month-old daughter at 7.30am on May 19 last year, said Julie Freytag, prosecuting.
Webster woke up and told her, "Don't f****** do that to her," before forcing the woman onto the bed, straddling her, and raining down punches on her face.
When she tried to escape he manhandled her back onto the bed and continued to beat her.
She didn’t want to scream because she didn't want to wake up her children but started to lose consciousness.
The court heard she underwent surgery which wasn't fully successful and her jaw is likely to be permanently displaced.
In a statement, she said the mental aftermath of the attack has left her reluctant to leave the house on some days and struggling to sleep.
Waking up in the same room, and at the same time, as the assault makes her think about the attack and affecting the rest of her day.
“I have spent many days wondering why he did this to me,” she said. “I grieve the person that I loved and still can't believe what he did to me.”
Nottingham Crown Court heard Webster has one previous conviction for GBH in 2019 for which he received a two-year prison sentence.
“It came out of the blue with no warning,” Steven Williams, mitigating, said. “A psychiatric report highlighted his impaired capacity to control his impulsivity when emotionally-aroused.
“He thought she had thrown the baby from one side of the bed to the other. That caused his annoyance.
“There has never been any domestic incidents before. Mr Webster isn't a man who treats partners badly.”
Webster, 28, of Dunsil Road, Mansfield Woodhouse, admitted inflicting grievous bodily harm when he appeared at Nottingham Magistrates Court on December 10, last year.
“You know how to use your fists to cause harm,” Judge Michael Auty KC told him on Thursday. “The blows you struck were wholly unnecessary. They were brutal, they were savage.”
Noting the maximum sentence for this offence is five years in prison, the judge handed him 30 months.