North Yorkshire thug jailed after stamping on woman's head

David Thompson, 49, stamped on both sides of the woman’s head, smashed a vase over her head and threw a stereo at her body, said Oliver Norman, prosecuting.

He also recorded the incident in her flat, which lasted four and a half minutes, on his mobile phone.

“It’s a good job I didn’t bring my cleaver or I would have cut your — head off,” the head chef told her, the court heard.

The Recorder of York, Judge Sean Morris, said only the courage of a neighbour who heard the woman’s screams prevented Thompson continuing the potentially fatal attack.

“I fear in the frenzy you have shown in that event you might have gone further,” he told Thompson.

“You could have been up for murder. It was only him going in there that stopped you. You didn’t stop yourself.”

Police also praised the neighbour's courage and described the attack as "horrific".

In a personal statement, the woman said she had believed she was about to die and was so terrified by the incident she had since left the flat which she rented, thus becoming homeless and having to live in a hostel.

Thompson, who gave his address as a pub in Hillam, near Selby, pleaded guilty to attempted grievous bodily harm and criminal damage.

A charge of threats to kill, which he denies, was left on file meaning it will appear on his criminal record but not as a conviction.

He was jailed for three years and eight months and made subject to a 10-year restraining order banning him from contacting the woman in any way or going near her home or place of work.

Mr Norman said Thompson formed a new relationship a year after breaking up with the woman, who sent a derogatory Facebook message about him to his new partner.

On June 3, 2024, he got into her Harrogate flat when she was sitting on her bed watching television.

He challenged her about the message, which she denied sending.

He attacked her repeatedly as she screamed and he threatened to kill her.

She told him he had “knocked out” her jaw.

Neighbours called 999 and as one of them went into the flat, Thompson came out saying “she’s crazy”, said Mr Norman.

He was arrested nearby smelling strongly of drink.

The judge, after watching Thompson’s video recording of the incident, said it was a revenge attack.

Mr Norman said the woman was injured but suffered no broken bones or bleeds on the brain.

Oliver Connor, for Thompson, said he had not offended since the incident two years ago.

He had been suffering from poor mental health and had tried to kill himself shortly before the incident.

On seeing the message, he had made a “snap decision” to walk to the woman’s house which had been a short distance from where he had been living.