Warsop sex offender choked ex-girlfriend unconscious and boasted about causing brain damage

A Warsop sex offender choked his ex-girlfriend into unconsciousness and boasted he could have caused her brain damage when she woke up, a court has heard.
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Nottingham Magistrates’ Court heard Daniel Cooper was annoyed because the motorcycle group he belonged to threw him out after learning of his previous convictions for sexual activity with a 13-year-old girl.

“At some point during the argument he put his arm around my throat and my neck was in the crook of his arm,” his victim said. “He choked me to the point of passing out on the kitchen floor.”

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Harvey Gahir, prosecuting, said she began sobbing as she recalled what happened at her home, on August 30, 2020, during Cooper's trial.

Nottingham Magistrates CourtNottingham Magistrates Court
Nottingham Magistrates Court

“All I remember is waking up and him standing over me and saying ‘if I held on any longer you would have brain damage’,” she said.

“I lost consciousness very quickly. I got out of the house as quickly as I could.”

Cooper, now aged 25, of Birch Street, Church Warsop, denied assault causing actual bodily harm.

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He told police he had choked her before in a sexual setting, when they had a safe word and a three-tap rule, but his victim denied this.

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Treve Lander, for Cooper, suggested the couple enjoyed ‘rough sex’ which included choking, but Cooper’s victim said: “But there's a difference between in the bedroom and in the kitchen.”

She did not report the attack straight away, because she ‘originally blamed herself’ and ‘after that I was scared, I was petrified, I did what most victims do’.

“I’ve spent at least a year trying to get over the fear and panic attacks,” she said. “I ended up on a lot of medication.”

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Cooper told magistrates how putting pressure on two arteries in someone's neck can make them lightheaded and increase sexual pleasure.

Mr Gahir said: “Clearly something happened that made her fear for her safety.

He said it was the fourth occasion the victim had turned up to give evidence after the trial was adjourned three times.

“It is hard enough for a domestic violence victim to turn up on one occasion,” he said.

Magistrates found Cooper guilty and ordered a probation report before he is sentenced on July 29. He was bailed on condition he does not contact the woman.