A man brutally assaulted his ex-partner over five hours and rubbed faeces in her face in front of a five-year-old, a court has heard.
Daniel Little, 33, of Henshall Avenue, Warrington, appeared at Liverpool Crown Court on Thursday after pleading guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and false imprisonment. Arthur Gibson, prosecuting, told the court that Little and the victim had been in a relationship and shared a child together, but had been separated for several years.
In late 2022, Little made contact with the victim through social services in an attempt to rekindle contact with their five-year-old, which led to some supervised contact, in which the victim was also present. Things progressed well but around two months later, the victim felt Little was “starting to lapse into his old ways” so contacted him and told him they needed to “take a step back”.
READ MORE: 'Sexual predator' flashed children then choked girl until she passed out
Mr Gibson said: “He did not take this well and would contact her saying things like ‘f**k off you’ve taken my family away’.” On December 3 last year, the victim received a call from police who informed her the defendant was in custody, and had asked her to collect his dog from his home, and look after it, which she did.
Shortly before midnight, the victim was home with the daughter she shares with Little, and her son, both of whom were asleep. She heard shouting and was greeted by Little at the back door, who let himself in and asked for a cup of tea, which the victim made out of fear.
Mr Gibson said: “Initially he seemed calm and relaxed but he suddenly changed, he grabbed her by the throat and threw her against the kitchen units. She fell to the floor whereupon he started to punch her head repeatedly.
“She kept saying to him ‘stop, stop, the children are upstairs, please stop, I haven’t done anything wrong.’ He did not stop but continued to punch her about the head and body shouting ‘you think you can take the p**s out of me, did you think you were going to get away with this?’”
After continuous beating, Little stopped and allowed the victim to go into the garden for fresh air, and she “thought she might run off, but realised it was impossible” so returned inside. The victim heard her five-year-old make a noise so went upstairs to check on her, but around a minute later, the defendant came into the bedroom and spoke to the children.
Mr Gibson said: “The defendant said to her ‘I thought you were going to take me back, you took away my family, you said you weren’t going to’. “He then punched her on the head two or three times until their daughter started to scream.
“He would then stop but not leave, and then again attacked her, he said ‘I’ve been sat in a cell for hours, you did this to me, you’re going to pay, you’re not cocky now’. “The behaviour went on for several hours despite their child saying to him ‘Why do you keep doing this? Why do you keep hurting her? Daddy, please stop’.”
Mr Gibson detailed that Little described his behaviour as his “revenge” and her “punishment”, and would ask her “have you learnt yet?”. Their five-year-old daughter would respond: “Mummy’s learnt daddy”. Mr Gibson added: “She felt she was fighting for her life."
After hours of abuse, Little said he would leave after having a bath, and whilst the bath was running, he ordered the victim to ring his landlords to allow him access to his flat as it had been boarded up following his arrest days prior. In the bathroom, he ordered the victim to sit on the toilet, and squirted hair conditioner at her in view of their daughter who screamed as he laughed.
His pet dog then entered the bathroom and defecated on the floor, which Little picked up and rubbed into the victim’s face before telling their daughter: “Look mummy’s going to have a bath now”. Little left the bathroom but returned and began punching the victim again, with such force that she was left winded, and did not stop despite his daughter repeatedly asking “why do you keep hurting mummy?”.
Whilst the physical beating continued, Little ordered the victim to call a taxi, and forced her and the two children to join him at his address, despite the children not being dressed. Taxi driver Hamza Mahmood arrived at around 4.20am and took the group to Little’s address, and recalled that the victim looked “very scared”.
Little got out of the taxi, and the victim immediately told the driver “you need to drive, you need to go”. Little tried to force his way back into the car, but the victim held the door shut and told the driver “you need to f***ing drive before he starts t***ing me”, and the children were saying “he’s going to hurt our mummy again”.
Mr Mahmood locked all the doors and drove the family to safety at Warrington Police Station. The victim was found to have extensive bruising and swelling around her left eye, face and upper body, and reduced hearing in her left ear.
She had a 10 centimetre bruise from shoulder to elbow, a five centimetre bruise over her chest wall, and various three centimetre bruises all over her body. Later that morning the defendant was arrested, and he told police: “At the end of the day she slapped me and I then I slapped her….when she threw a cup at me I retaliated, I lost my f***ing temper, she threw a cup at me.
“Am I making a complaint? No, because I’m a man, I retaliated, it’s cheeky doing that and then getting me nicked.” The victim appeared in court to read her victim impact statement.
She said: “This incident has affected both me and my children, I have not gone back to college since, and I still relive the incident daily. The victim said “the children are not the same”, and she is worried about what Little will do when he’s out of prison.
She continued: “You should not be scared of the person that is supposed to protect you. I do not feel like I can move forward, I am worried about when he comes out of prison, we will always have a child together.
“I feel very vulnerable, I know he will always try to find me.” Little has 17 previous convictions for 34 offences, the majority of which are for violence, including numerous assaults of emergency workers, battery, drug offences and domestic violence.
Anna Price, defending, said: “Mr Little has asked me to express how deeply ashamed and very sorry he is for his behaviour towards the victim. He has shown shame for his behaviour throughout his pre-sentence report with the probation service.
“Mr Little now acknowledges how terrible this incident must have been for his victim, and accepts that he needs to be in prison and will participate in whatever work is deemed appropriate. He knows he must be punished, and he will use his time in custody constructively and deal with the anger management issues he knows he has to address.”
Addressing concerns expressed by the victim that Little would seek her out upon his release from prison, Ms Price said Little now “understands the relationship is over”. Ms Price said: “He knows that it is over and there is no future, he does not intend to pursue any relationship with her.
“I submit that there is another side to this defendant, he is capable of staying out of trouble for significant periods of time, as shown between 2013 and 2019.” In sentencing, Mr Recorder Michael Blakey said: “You carried on even though your child was begging you to stop hurting her mummy.
“You humiliated that lady, it was in her own home and there was gratuitous humiliation of the victim by rubbing that dog faeces into her hair. “It seems to me that you were exerting, or trying to, very strong control over that lady.”
Little was sentenced to 43 months imprisonment and a restraining order barring him from contacting the victim was implemented for an indefinite period of time.
READ NEXT
Live updates as police and fire service cordon off main road
'Don't say nothing' - How Paul Russell faced up to his crimes and did the right thing in the end
Woman falsely claimed £50,000 government loan and only paid back £1,000
Eight suspected dealers named after raids across city
Order your 48-page Eurovision souvenir guide from our online shop
