A MAN bit his former girlfriend’s finger after turning up at her Rugby home in breach of a restraining order imposed after more than a dozen earlier incidents.
And a judge at Warwick Crown Court jailed Ricky Barnett for a total of two years and eight months.
Barnett, 37, of no fixed address, had pleaded guilty to assaulting his ex-girlfriend, common assault on her new partner, and two charges of breaching the restraining order.
Prosecutor Ian Speed said Barnett and his ex had been in a relationship for three-and-a-half years, and had a one-year-old daughter.
“But there had been in excess of a dozen incidents between the pair, and in October 2017, following an assault on her, Warwickshire magistrates put in place a restraining order.”
Under the order, Barnett was banned from contacting her or going to her home – but he breached it twice in January and May last year.
Then on July 2, she answered her door believing it would be a friend of hers, but it was Barnett, who barged his way in saying he was there to see his daughter, and refused to leave – but he finally did so after she had called the police.
When officers arrived, the woman said that while he was there Barnett had grabbed her round the throat and bit her finger as she tried to stop him going into one of the bedrooms.
She said he also had a knife, with which he threatened her new partner, who was in the bedroom.
But David Everett, defending, pointed out that Barnett ‘has always denied going there with a knife.’
And he had entered his pleas on the basis that he had picked up the knife while he was there and had stood holding it in the doorway of the bedroom, but had not gone into the room.
Mr Everett said Barnett had not known his father until he was 20, and his mother had been a drug addict, resulting in him being taken into care and having 20-plus foster carers.
He said Barnett’s motivation for going there was the protection of his daughter, because he believed drugs were being used at the address, adding: “He knows he will be going to prison today.”
Jailing Barnett and imposing a new restraining order for five years, Judge Anthony Potter told him: “Once again you appear before the courts in relation to your conduct towards your ex-partner who in the past you had assaulted.
“When you attended (her) address you knew full well you were not doing anything which was in any way justifiable.
“You assaulted (her) by grabbing her by the throat and biting her finger, then picking up a knife in the premises and waving it towards her partner.”
