Man hit partner during alcohol and laughing gas binge

George Morgan, 33, had been asked to leave the woman’s home earlier that evening – having gone there after a Henley pub date.

She left the front door to her flat unlocked, thinking Morgan wouldn’t be able to get in through the front door, Oxford Crown Court was told.

The woman unable to say what happened when he walked into her flat, describing it as a ‘blur of punching’.

He grabbed her by the throat leaving her struggling to breathe, she said. The woman tried to shout for help but found it difficult.

The next thing she remembered was paramedics being in the flat. During the assault she suffered a hairline fracture to her cheekbone and a 1.5cm cut to her right eyebrow.

Morgan, formerly of Villa Close, Cholsey, denied causing grievous bodily harm with intent but pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of wounding.

In a basis of plea he said they’d both been drinking and taking laughing gas when she attacked him. His response amounted to excessive self-defence, he said. He punched her in the face and grabbed her by the hair when she allegedly bit him.

“I heard a yelp. When I looked back she had run into the end of the door and was holding her head,” he added.

File image of nitrous oxide cannisters, better known as laughing gas

The basis of plea was not accepted by the Crown Prosecution Service, but it was acknowledged that it would make relatively little difference to the sentence Morgan was to receive.

The defendant’s barrister, Kellie Enever, said the paramedics had noted that both Morgan and his victim were intoxicated. Blood drips at the scene appeared to support her client’s account that his partner had run into the door.

Notwithstanding the fact he had done the equivalent of more than a year’s prison sentence on remand, Morgan wanted the opportunity to work with probation as part of a suspended sentence.

Recorder John Hardy QC told the defendant: “It’s time to start growing up. In particular, it’s time to start growing up in so far as your relationships with women are concerned.

“I take the view [men] especially of your build who hit women must go to prison. It’s just not on.

“Your reaction to whatever was going on on the night in question was completely unjustifiable.”

Recognising Morgan had already served a ‘significant’ period on remand, the judge suspended the 12 month prison sentence for a year. He must complete the Building Better Relationships domestic violence course.

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