Bangor man jailed after assault on former partner

A woman who was assaulted by her former partner and left bleeding from a head wound grabbed a knife to protect herself during a terrifying ordeal at her Bangor home.

The incident happened after Jamie Cowell had got into her house and pushed her on the floor. She managed to scream for help in the street and a neighbour alerted police.

Cowell, 39, of High Street, Bangor, was arrested. He pleaded guilty to breaching a restraining order, assault causing actual bodily harm and causing criminal damage and was jailed for 16 months at Caernarfon Crown Court.

Amy Edwards, prosecuting, told the court that Cowell and the woman had been in a relationship but separated in 2020. He was abusive during the relationship and handed a restraining order in 2018.

But on November 8 she was building a sensory bed for their son when she got a call from a friend saying Cowell was “on one”. Cowell himself contacted the woman to say he was coming over but she told him not to come. She stayed with their son in a neighbour’s house.

But when she later went to her own home, next door, to check it was locked she found Cowell inside. She told him to get out but he refused. Knowing she couldn’t outrun him, she went inside. But he pushed her to the floor and she banged the back of her head, causing it to bleed.

She didn’t want him to know about the wound in case he got angry about it. She lied about getting a cigarette but really got a knife. This made him angry as he knew she didn’t smoke, said the prosecutor. He backed her onto the fridge then felt the blood on her head and he said sorry.

She grabbed a knife – but by the blade in her haste – to protect herself, said Ms Edwards. Cowell, who had been drinking, “was pleading for her to kill him,” she said.

She left the house, screamed for help and a neighbour rang the police. Afterwards she realised her sofa had been stabbed and the defendant had damaged her TV and mirror.

In a statement the woman said she wanted to be a “mother, protector and guide” for their son but that she has been brought back to a life of “uncertainty and fear”. She said: “I want to live in safety, consistency and peace.”

Cowell needs “help and direction”, she added. She said Cowell “has been let down by the system and the right support and guidance were never provided”.

Simon Killeen, defending, said the defendant had the good sense to plead guilty to the offences. But he added that in Cowell’s case: “The template one hopes that children inherit in order that they can go into the world and be good members of society and provide a good, solid parenting basis for their children is distinctly absent.”

His Honour Judge Timothy Petts told Cowell he had been told not to go to the house but went anyway. The woman had picked up a knife “to be safe”. He jailed Cowell for 16 months for breaching the 2020 restraining order, and for ten months, concurrently, for assault causing ABH. There was no separate penalty for causing criminal damage.

He made a Domestic Violence Protection Order for 20 years. The judge added: “I hope you will move on from her and give her a chance to move on from you.”