Notts man who launched drug fuelled attack on his partner jailed

A man who launched a drug fuelled attack on his partner has been jailed.
Duane BallinDuane Ballin
Duane Ballin

Duane Ballin, 36, formerly of Alford Court, Nottingham, was today (Monday, March 26) given an 18 year sentence for GBH with intent.

He will spend 15 years behind bars and a further three on licence.

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The sentence is an extended one, meaning that he will have to serve at least two thirds of it before he can be considered for parole.

A major crime investigation was launched after Ballin handed himself into a police station, stating he had killed his girlfriend. Officers attended an address in Alford Court, Nottingham on October 25, 2016 and discovered the body of a 29-year-old woman.

A post-mortem examination found that Tara Newbold had died from cocaine overdose, but that she had suffered a sustained attack before her death. With more than 30 injuries likely to have been caused by a weapon, including five broken ribs and a punctured lung, Duane Ballin was later charged with GBH with intent.

While giving evidence, Ballin admitted to using the internet to search ‘feeling cold when dying’ and ‘the dying process’, before going to sleep. Waking up on the morning of October 25, Ballin found Ms Newbold dead, before fleeing the house. He later handed himself in, ringing an ambulance on his way to the police station. Ballin was found to have cocaine in his system when he was arrested.

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Ballin, was found guilty of the attack on February 22, 2018.

Detective Sergeant, Rachael North, said: “This was a brutal and sustained attack on a young mother and while a pathologist concluded that this didn’t cause her death, Ballin is still a dangerous man who deserves to be locked up.

“With that in mind, detectives have carried out an extremely thorough major crime investigation and this is reflected in the sentence handed to Ballin today.

“My thoughts are with Ms Newbold’s family, who have had to endure the complexities of this tragic case, as well as being put through a trial. I hope that they can find some closure following today’s verdict.”

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Following the sentence, Ms Newbold’s father, Charles Newbold, said: “I am pleased that justice has finally prevailed and Duane Ballin is at last no longer at liberty for a good period of time, and that he does not get released from his sentence too soon.

“He is a very dangerous and controlling man who has shown no remorse throughout his relationship with my daughter or during the trial which determined his guilt. I fear for the future safety of any woman or child in his presence as he poses a high risk to them. He has ruined the life of my daughter Tara and no doubt many others close to her over the years.

“I feel upset for my grandchildren, they have now through his nasty cowardly actions lost the love of their mother. I as a father have lost my daughter, which nobody should have to deal with.

“I urge victims of domestic abuse to come forward and report this shattering crime and not to live in fear of not getting the help and support needed to break away from the stigma of feeling “it’s your fault”. My daughter did and sadly ended up dead.”

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Ms Newbold’s mother, Julie Drury, and step-father, Peter Drury, said: “It saddens us to the core to know that since her death she has already missed her daughter’s first day at school and the first day at a new school of one of her sons. There will be so many milestones in their lives that she will not be here to share with them, indeed on an almost daily basis one of us thinks this should be Tara witnessing this, not us.

“She commenced a college course in Health and Social Care and volunteered for Home Start providing support for families with young children whyo were struggling to cope, again demonstrating her caring maternal nature.

“Tara was a dedicated mother not just to her own children but to any she came into contact with and she would not willingly have put them or their relationship with her in jeopardy. Our only comfort is that she can no longer suffer at the hands of this evil, selfish and controlling person.”

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