A thug with a record of violence against women was jailed for 10 years today after battering his partner around the head with an iron.
Alan Sherlock, 26, left the woman in a pool of blood after hitting her so many times a Good Samaritan who witnessed the attack “lost count.”
Judge Steven Everett, passing sentence at Liverpool Crown Court, said he was astonished the woman had not been killed.
Sherlock, of Lennox Way, Edge Hill pleaded guilty to attempted grievous bodily harm with intent at an earlier hearing.
Paul Blasbery, prosecuting, said the defendant also admitted assault after attacking the witness and telling her “I know where you live.”
He said: “Just after 4am on June 27, police received a phone call from a telephone kiosk on the junction of Faraday Street and Breck Road
“The caller was clearly upset and explained she had been battered and knocked out by her partner, and wanted him removing from her address.”
The court heard around the same time a woman was walking her dog down Lower Breck Road when she noticed the victim “shouting and screaming” in a phone box.
Mr Blasbery said she asked what was wrong and the victim, who had a swollen mouth and jaw, replied he’s trying to kill me, I just want him out of my house but he won’t go’.
The witness then rang the police, leaving the victim sitting nearby on the roadside.
At that point she heard Sherlock screaming “slag” and running towards the victim carrying a domestic iron.
According to the witness Sherlock grabbed the woman by the hair and started “whacking” her to the side of the head with the iron so many times “she lost count.”
Mr Blasbery said the woman ran out of the phone box to confront Sherlock, shouting “I’m going to get you f****** nicked.”
However he grabbed her in a “bearhug” and said “I know where you live,” before running away upon hearing a police siren.
Sherlock was arrested later that morning and said in interview the pair had been drinking vodka and had been arguing.
He said he did not remember attacking her in the house but remembered being out in the road and holding the iron.
CCTV footage, played to the court, showed Sherlock dragging the victim into the middle of the road “like a rag doll” before raining down blows with the iron.
Judge Everett described him landing at least one “full blooded kick.” on the woman.
The Queen Elizabeth II Law Courts, Liverpool Crown Court. File picture. Photo by Ian Cooper
Judge Everett said: “You ran straight up to her and dragged her into the road like a rag doll before landing umpteen blows. You banged her head on the floor and landed at least one full blooded kick, and the coup de gras was that you stamped on her, she could have been dead for all you knew.
“It was astonishing she didn’t die, astonishing she didn’t suffer a serious brain injury, astonishing she was, in fact, able to get up.”
Nicholas Cochrell, representing Sherlock, said his client recognised the seriousness of the offence and had pleaded guilty at an early opportunity.
The court heard Sherlock was jailed for two years in 2011 for battering his 18-year-old female cousin, an attack which involved stamping on her face.
He also has previous convictions for assault occasioning actual bodily harm on his latest victim when he “stood on her head.”
Judge Everett said the defendant’s previous convictions and the seriousness of the offence classed him as a high risk offender.
This means Sherlock must serve at least two thirds of his sentence in custody and will be released only if a parole board decide he is no longer a risk to the public.
He must also be supervised under an extended four year licence period after his release.
Source: http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/