A dad confessed to his mum that he "may have murdered someone" after attacking a woman and leaving her for dead.
Shane Woods strangled his victim after she allegedly made a joke about his son. The 33-year-old met up with the woman in the early hours of May 21 last year, after speaking to her on social media.
The pair drank alcohol and took cocaine in Haigh Country Park, Wigan, but then Woods, of Balcarres Road, Aspull, attacked the woman. A court heard the victim could not recall how the assault started but she regained consciousness at one point and Woods' hands were around her throat, strangling her.
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She drifted in and out of consciousness and when she did come around, she believed she had suffered a stroke because her face was so swollen. However at this point, Woods had returned home at 7.30am, asked his brother to wash his clothes and headed to bed, the MEN reports.
Around 90 minutes later, at 9am, the woman was discovered by a passer-by who heard her crying for help. She was discovered propped up against a tree and was still slipping in and out of consciousness.
She had suffered severe bruising to her face and head. Her right eye was swollen, shut and heavily bruised. She had deep and extensive bruising to her neck with spinal tenderness at the back of her neck. There was swelling above her right eye socket and cheek, with a cut along her right jaw bone and on the inside of a swollen upper lip.
There were also multiple bruises and abrasions to her torso and limbs, and after being rushed to hospital, a CT scan revealed a small subarachnoid haemorrhage - a stroke caused by a bleed on the brain. She was also found to be suffering from mild hypothermia.
A few hours after returning home, Woods confessed to his mum that he "may have murdered someone" and asked her to call 999. When arrested, Woods made reference to showing the police "where the body was", the court heard.
During his interview, Woods told officers that the assault had occurred because he had "taken offence at a joke which she had made about his son." He denied that he intended to kill the woman or that he had intended to cause her really serious harm.
He was originally charged with attempted murder but pleaded not guilty and instead admitted to inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent at a hearing in October.
Judge Walsh detailed Woods' "troubling antecedent history", which included an incident in 2009, when he attacked another man with a knife "without any apparent motive". There were further offences of robbery in 2013, as well as affray, possession of a knife, and making threats to kill in 2015.
Judge Walsh also read from a pre-sentence report, in which a probation officer deemed Woods as posing a very high risk of causing serious harm to the public. He was sentenced to 11-and-a-half years in jail, with an extended licence period of five years.
Judge Walsh said: "This is clearly a case of high culpability involving strangulation of a vulnerable victim as part of a sustained assault which took place in a remote location.
"The impact upon your victim is severe and although she survived the strangulation, it is quite clear from the photographic evidence and the account of the complainant herself that the strangulation, which was an integral part of a sustained and violent attack, that this case, in which she suffered extensive injury, was itself life threatening."
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