Buckley man jailed for strangling partner and threats

“Jealous, possessive and violent” man jailed after strangling partner and threatening to burn her home down

A man who subjected his partner to a campaign of abuse lasting almost a year – including strangling her and threatening to set fire to her home with her child inside – has been sent to prison.

James Roberts, 28, of Megs Lane, Buckley, Flintshire, was convicted of controlling and coercive behaviour, two counts of strangulation and two counts of actual bodily harm after standing trial in December last year.

He appeared at Mold Crown Court today (Monday) for sentencing.

The abuse

The court heard Roberts’ abuse spanned just under a year, during which he subjected his victim to physical, emotional and mental torment. Among the most serious incidents, he strangled his partner on multiple occasions and made a threat to burn down her property with her and her child inside.

Victim’s words

A victim impact statement was read to the court by prosecutor Simon Rogers, in which the woman described the lasting damage Roberts had caused to both her and her daughter.

“It wasn’t just physical abuse, I have had to recover from emotional and mental abuse too,” she said.

“There were no limits to how far James would try to go to destroy me. Over time I started to lose who I was.”

She said she had begun to doubt herself and felt “worthless”, with her relationships affected moving forward.

“He ruined my life for a long time,” she added.

Defence arguments

Anna Price, acting for the defence, told the court there was another side to Roberts. She said he was still a relatively young man, was hard-working and well thought of, with character references describing him as “very polite”, “a pleasure to know” and “well liked”.

The relationship was now definitively over, the court heard. Roberts had also built up a business which would be significantly affected by an immediate custodial sentence, and an apprentice would also be impacted.

Ms Price said that although Roberts still denied the offences, he wanted to address his behaviour and ensure he was never in this position again. He did not present as a high risk of reoffending, with a realistic chance of rehabilitation.

The court also heard Roberts had one previous conviction for an unrelated offence committed when he was a youth.

Sentencing

Judge Simon Mills said the victim had faced multiple forms of abuse, including the “very wicked form of violence” of strangulation on multiple occasions. He noted Roberts had denied his guilt “despite strong evidence”.

“You were jealous, possessive and violent,” the judge told him, adding that he had also made the very serious threat to “burn her property down with her and her child inside it.”

Although Judge Mills accepted there was another side to Roberts, he said the defendant had still not shown genuine remorse, and his mitigation would have carried more weight had he recognised what he had done.

Roberts was sentenced to two years in prison. The judge said the sentence took into account a reduction because the defendant had to face sentencing twice due to an error, as well as the mitigation presented.

He will serve at least half of the sentence in custody, with the remainder on licence. A Domestic Abuse Protection Order was also imposed for seven years.