Bradford man Jason Jones left woman with punctured lung

Bradford Crown Court heard that 39-year-old Jason Jones had been drinking heavily when he and the woman went for a meal in a local pub in October last year. 

Prosecutor Ian Howard said the couple had been in an on-off relationship for two years and their relationship had been “rekindled” after Jones was released from a prison sentence.

Jones was said to be “very drunk” during the incident in which he became argumentative after spending all his money on a bandit machine in the pub and asking the woman for more, which she did not have.

The case was heard at Bradford Crown Court (Image: Newsquest)

When they sat down to eat he threw condiments from the table at her face, smashed her mobile phone and, when she got up to leave, threw a drink in her face.

He lurched towards a female member of staff and punched the table between them whilst verbally abusing her. And when a chef approached to deal with what was becoming a potentially volatile situation, Jones slapped him in the face.

Jones was then “manhandled” out of the pub.

The incident continued at the woman’s home when Jones shouted in her face, called her “a s***” and threatened to smash up her house.

He ripped the freezer door off its hinges and threw things at the woman including a heavy ornament of a gorilla that hit her head leaving her feeling dizzy.

He then used the ornament to hit her “all over her body” as she screamed at him to stop. He told her he would kill her if she left.

She eventually escaped, hid in the back garden, and the police were called.

She was treated in hospital for five days and found to have four rib fractures, a puncture to her right lung, an injury to her liver, and a cut to her skull.

The ornament, which weighed around 10kg, was found at the scene.

Jones later pleaded guilty to grievous bodily harm, assault by beating, common assault, and criminal damage.

Mitigating, Derek Duffy said Jones, of Wakefield Road, Bradford, who accepted that he had a problem with alcohol, had spent a total of 13-and-a-half years in prison for offences including grievous bodily harm, actual bodily harm, battery, and theft.

He said: “Whenever he gets into a conflict and he’s had a drink, he loses control. From his point of view, he would certainly welcome help.”

Sentencing Jones, who appeared via video link from HMP Leeds, His Honour Judge Colin Burn told him he presented “a dangerous combination of being a physically violent individual, which is demonstrated by your record, and behaving with uncontrolled aggression towards people when you’re intoxicated.

“That’s exactly what happened on this occasion.

“When you are sober you are, in general terms, able to make reasonable decisions but that doesn’t detract, frankly, from the violent, rampaging drunk, which was the picture that was presented on this occasion.

“A custodial sentence is unavoidable in your case.”

He sentenced Jones to a total of 34 months in prison minus seven months already served on remand, and that he would be released just after the half-way point.