Life sentence for man who attacked woman and girls in Chilton near Aycliffe

Liam Keith Hall – a 6ft 4in 20 stone man with a long history of violent offending – left the woman he had been dating for two months with “truly horrific” facial fractures including a broken nose and cheekbones and her jaw was displaced from her skull.

The 33-year-old, from Chilton, also put a teenage girl in a stranglehold and stamped on her head and throat which resulted in her requiring surgery.

The second child-victim was dragged upstairs by her hair and “miraculously” suffered no fractures.

Teesside Crown Court heard that the incident took place when Hall went to a house in Coleridge Road, Chilton, on the evening of September 10, this year, on the pretence of looking for his wallet.

He entered the house and said “hiya” to one of the two girls, who were visiting the property, before attacking them and his partner.

All three have suffered both physically and psychologically since the unprovoked assaults, which were commited after Hall had been drinking alochol and taking cocaine and unprescribed zantac.

The court heard Hall had a long history of violence with a nine convictions, relating to 14 offences, on his criminal record.

They included manslaughter in 2010, a wounding of a man with a knife in 2012 and numerous offences against ex-partners.

Read more: Man admits violently attacking three people in Chilton near Aycliffe

Recorder Jo Kidd sentenced Hall to a life sentence and said he must serve a minimum of eight years in custody before he can be considered for parole.

A restraining order was also made in relation to all three victims.

John Turner, mitigating, said Hall had expressed remorse for the incident but the Judge said she had seen no evidence that he was sorry for anyone but himself.

He had previously pleaded guilty to two counts of grievous bodily harm with intent and one count of attempting to cause grievous bodily harm with intent. Credit was given for his early guilty pleas.