A friendship which began on Facebook turned sinister when a man repeatedly attacked a woman and tried to strangle her. David Richard Smith had met his victim on the online social media platform three months earlier.
Things turned sour when he cut his own stomach and told her: "I'm going to cut you up", before grabbing her hair and pulling her to the floor. Afterwards, cocaine addict Smith, 32, of John Woodhead Court, Mansfield, apologised to her and she decided not to go to police.
But police were informed when he attacked her again just six days later on June 29, 2021. Nottingham Crown Court heard she unable to get into her own house after Smith, who had been drinking all day and looking after her dogs, locked her out.
