South Shields attacker jailed for strangling pregnant girlfriend after cocaine row

A brute who strangled his pregnant girlfriend after a row broke out about him buying drugs has been jailed. 

Damien Kelly put both hands around his victim's neck and pinned her to the bed after a ten-hour row about him going out for crack cocaine.

Newcastle Crown Court heard the woman, who was six weeks pregnant, had told Kelly she would leave him if he made the illegal purchase on February 1 and he went out. When she later turned up at the social club he was at, he told her to "go home, you rat". 

The court heard the argument continued when they got back to the home they shared, in South Tyneside, that night and ran into the next morning, when he attacked her on the bed. 

Prosecutor Laura Miller told the court: "The complainant tried to push him away so she could leave the address. He climbed on top of her and put both hands around her neck and pinned her to the mattress. 

"She screamed for him to get off her but he refused. 

"The attack continued for about five minutes, following which he went into the kitchen."

Kelly eventually left when police, who were actually looking for someone else, turned up at the door. 

The woman said in a victim impact statement: "His behaviour has left me feeling scared and worried. I was fearful and concerned he would cause me serious harm. I've never seen him act as bad as this before."

Kelly, 29, of no fixed address, who has 36 previous convictions, pleaded guilty to intentional strangulation and he was also in breach of suspended prison sentence for possessing a knife.

He was jailed for a total of two years.

Fiona Lamb, defending, said he has been working in prison and wants to find employment when he is released.