Man jailed for 13 months after attacking partner in Weymouth (From Dorset Echo)

Man jailed for 13 months after attacking partner in Weymouth

5:00pm Tuesday 7th February 2012 in News By Harry Hogger

A MAN who repeatedly punched his on-off partner after knocking her to the ground has been sentenced to 13 months in prison.

Judge Roger Jarvis condemned the attack by Andrew Neil Harrison, 45, on Sarah Pemberton following a night out in Weymouth, saying he should be ‘ashamed’ of his behaviour.

Prosecutor Tim Bradbury told Dorchester Crown Court that Harrison – who admitted assault occasioning actual bodily harm – had come down to Weymouth with Miss Pemberton from Bath for the weekend on May 13 last year.

He said they were both drinking from around lunchtime that day and in the early hours of Saturday, May 14 they became separated.

Miss Pemberton made her own way back to the flat where they were staying and Harrison arrived at around 3am.

Mr Bradbury said: “It would seem from both accounts that there were cross words exchanged and something of an argument.

“The complainant Miss Pemberton – who was a somewhat slight lady compared to the defendant – was struck in the face, she says by a punch, knocking her to the floor and then she received a series of further punches to the face from the defendant while she was on the floor.”

Miss Pemberton suffered a fractured nose, bruising to the head and shoulders and bleeding in her right eye as a result of the attack.

Mr Bradbury said that while Miss Pemberton was around five foot six and of slim build, Harrison was six foot two of muscular build and weighed around 21 stone.

Mr Shorter, mitigating, said Harrison, of Upper Bloomfield Road, Bath, claimed it was Miss Pemberton who struck the first blow by poking him in the eye but he accepted that he had gone over the top in response.

Judge Roger Jarvis told the defendant: “In truth you should be ashamed that you, a man of your size and your build, struck a woman and struck a woman in the way you struck the unfortunate Miss Pemberton.” Despite sentencing Harrison to 13 months in prison, Judge Jarvis ordered that the 199 days he had spent on remand for the offence was taken into account so he will be eligible for release almost immediately.

The judge also imposed a restraining order that prevents Harrison from contacting Miss Pemberton for a minimum of five years.