Nottinghamshire drug user strangled partner of 20 years with strap from her handbag

A Nottinghamshire drug user strangled his on-off partner of 20 years with the strap from her handbag. Nottingham Crown Court heard how Andrew Smith then dragged the victim into an alleyway in front of shocked onlookers.

One of them confronted the 54-year-old while she shut herself in a nearby chemist. Now he has been jailed for his criminal actions.

Sending him to prison for 21 months, Recorder Simon King said: “For whatever reason you became enraged and this led to a prolonged episode of domestic violence on your then partner. This included you putting a bag strap around her neck which you pulled tightly.

“I have listened very carefully to what your barrister has said and I don’t think anyone could have said anything more on your behalf. But with regret it seems that there’s nothing exceptional that means anything other than a sentence of immediate custody is avoidable.”

Steve Gosnell, prosecuting, said Smith and his on-off partner had been together for two decades. He said both had been drug users and on July 25, this year, a row erupted between them.

The prosecutor said: “He took a TV and a bag and she went with him and left the flat. He got the strap from her bag and put it around her neck, she said she had never seen him this angry before.

“A woman who knew the victim saw them together in Sherwood Road, Worksop, and saw the defendant grabbing the victim and pulling her into a passageway and heard the woman shouting ‘why did you do that?’.

“He then picked up a metal pole and threatened the victim and got her in what the witness said was a ‘pincer-like grip’ and with her bag around her throat. She later described herself as being ‘terrified’ at what the defendant might do.”

Mr Gosnell said the victim got free and ran into a chemist shouting “help me” and shut the door while Smith was outside shouting. He said the defendant then got into “an altercation” with a man who had confronted him about his behaviour towards the victim.

Smith, of St John’s Court, Worksop, was arrested, charged and later pleaded guilty to two counts of intentional strangulation and one count of affray. He has 31 previous court appearances for 62 offences dating back to 1987 including burglary but "mainly theft” the prosecutor said.

Digby Johnson, mitigating, said his client and the victim have both been long-term drug users but in the lead up to the offending, Smith had got himself clean. He said: “In terms of the strangulation, it’s really two people fighting over a handbag and no more than that. It is not like he equipped himself for that purpose.

“He has got to learn to live without drugs, something he’s not done for more than two decades.”

As well as the jail term, the judge handed the defendant a restraining order until further order.