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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
National
David Powell & Liam Buckler

Man who beat up woman in 'vicious' attack leaving her feeling like 'Elephant Man' jailed

A woman who was so badly beaten up by her ex-partner said her injuries made her feel like "the Elephant man".

James Owen, 34, of Mynydd Y Ddraig, Holyhead, assaulted Jessica Roberts after he thought she was seeing someone else but Ms Roberts said her relationship with Owen was over.

The suspect spat in her face, on her mouth and nose, punched her and put her in a headlock.

He called it "his move" as it wouldn't "leave marks", reports NorthWalesLive.

Jessica was thrown to the ground and Owen kicked her left eye and head.

He also bit her left ear, ripping the cartilage and earring and her hands were left covered in blood, the court heard.

Mold Crown Court (DAILY POST WALES)

On February 26, they had been on separate nights out and Ms Roberts saw Owen in a bar.

They argued and later he sent text messages within which he said he had heard about her and another man.

Owen texted her with the message: "You're f****** now".

Ms Roberts replied that it was he (Owen) who had left her and he later sent a message:

"Blocking you now so I can think about revenge. It might be next week, next month but something happens," the court heard.

However the prosecutor said that the following day, Sunday, February 27, the defendant asked to meet Ms Roberts near Mill Bank Stores in Holyhead.

She "reluctantly" did so but once she got there he accused her of sleeping with someone else.

Prosecutor Ms Payne said: "She thought the defendant was going to kill her. She had never been so scared in her life."

But the court heard Owen didn't want her friend or his own mother to see her injuries and so they went to his brother's flat.

She then went to Ysbyty Gwynedd in Bangor for treatment including five stitches to her eye wound.

Police were called and Owen was arrested.

He told officers that he and Ms Roberts had been engaged and the injuries were caused by someone else.

In a victim statement, Ms Roberts told the court a doctor in the hospital told her she would have a scar from her eye injury.

She said: "I looked like the Elephant Man - it was all swollen. A little boy asked his mum 'what's wrong with her face?'"

Anna Pope, defending, said her client had had a "tragic upbringing" and he had been "encouraged to fight his brother for the pleasure of a parent".

This was not, however, an excuse for his behaviour against Ms Roberts.

She added he is remorseful and accepts he has "anger management problems".

But the judge The Recorder Neil Owen-Casey told the defendant, it had been a "nasty and vicious" assault against his victim and the jail term reflects the gravity of the offence.

Owen, 34, pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

He was also issued an indefinite restraining order prohibiting Owen from contacting Ms Roberts directly or indirectly.

Owen was also given concurrent, four-week jail terms for each of four counts of sending a malicious communication, by text message.

They also run concurrently to the main 16-month sentence.

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