South Shields man fractured girlfriend’s knee by slamming a car door on her legs
A brute who fractured his girlfriend's knee when he slammed a car door on her legs has been jailed.
Thomas Dalton turned up at the woman's home and started calling her names because he wrongly thought she had been unfaithful.
Newcastle Crown Court heard he ordered her out of the house and into the car where he caused the injury in July.
Prosecutor Kevin Wardlaw said the attack was caught on CCTV and told the court: "He demands she get into his car, pushes her towards the car. "She is sat in the passenger seat with her legs out and he slams the door shut on her legs, which causes a fracture to her knee."
The court heard the victim did not provide a statement to police.
Dalton, 46, of Highfield Road, South Shields, who has a record for violence and was sentenced to indefinite imprisonment for public protection in 2006, admitted causing grievous bodily harm.
Mr Recorder Tom Moran sentenced him to 15 months behind bars but said it will be up to the parole board when he is released as he has been recalled to continue the indefinite term.
David Callan, defending, said Dalton has shown "considerable remorse" and added that the indefinite jail sentence has had a long term bad affect on his mental health.
Mr Callan said: "Every time he's released from prison he's nervous, he knows if he puts the slightest foot wrong he will be back in prison and has been recalled several times."
Mr Callan said Dalton knows the victim is a "loyal and honest" person and added: "She wouldn't lie but at the time he didn't believe anything she said."