A violent bully whose ‘male inadequacy’ resulted in him attacking his former partner over a three-hour period in her own home has been locked up.
Leon Crossling managed to coerce his victim into letting him into her home before launching the brutal attack, while her three children were asleep upstairs.
The 33-year-old’s violent onslaught left his victim battered and bruised before dental treatment also resulted in her losing three teeth, Teesside Crown Court heard.
Nigel Soppitt, prosecuting, said the defendant was already serving a suspended prison sentence and was the subject of a restraining order when he started bombarding his victim with telephone calls on August 23.
He said the woman eventually answered the call and Crossling was ‘pitiful’ begging for another chance before becoming abusive.
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The court heard how the following day he turned up at her home at 5.30am and again started off remorseful, before returning to his customary abusive behaviour.
Mr Soppitt added: “When the assault started by the defendant, he punched her to the head multiple times.
“He pulled her to the settee by the hair and at one point grabbed her face and shouted into her face.”
He told the judge that the victim’s ordeal lasted for around three hours before she was able to get help when her mother phoned the emergency services.
As he left, he took the victim’s phone and deleted all the messages he had sent to her over the previous 24 hours, he added.
Crossling, of Morpeth Avenue, Middlesbrough, pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm, stalking and breach of a restraining order.
Emma Williams, mitigating, said her client had been in an on-off relationship with the woman over a number of years before it broke down permanently.
She said: “He admitted he shouldn’t have done it and was a disgrace to his children.”
Judge Jonathan Carroll sentenced Crossling to 43 months in custody for the current offences and activated his ten-week suspended sentence to run consecutively.
“It must have been a truly terrifying experience and she was unable to phone the police but fortunately she had her mother at hand to help her with that,” he said.
“These offences are predominantly against women and are fuelled by male inadequacy and violent behaviour – it just has to stop.”
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