Lee Edwards jailed after violently assaulting his girlfriend

Lee Edwards has been jailed after he violently assaulted his girlfriend. Edwards (born 03/02/1985) of Lever Street, Middleton was sentenced at Bolton Crown Court to ten years in prison.

At 1.00am on Sunday 18 August 2013, Edwards and his girlfriend returned home from a night out and got into an argument.

The woman attempted to leave the house but Edwards refused to let her. He grabbed hold of her and threw her on to the stairs. He then stood over her and repeatedly punched her in her face and on her body before biting her on the cheek, nose and shoulder.

The woman managed to get on to her side to crawl away; he threw her on her front and repeatedly stamped on her neck and all over her back.

The woman attempted to leave the house but Edwards stopped her and told her to go upstairs. He then strangled her with both hands so she could not breathe.

She managed to escape the house hours after Edwards had fallen asleep.

Detective Constable Michael Berger said: "Edwards is an extremely possessive and controlling man. In the months leading to this assault, he would often tell her to change her clothes and he stopped her seeing her friends as often as she would have liked due to his controlling nature.

"His anger spiralled out of control that night in August and left the woman in a serious amount of pain. He punched her so hard in the face that he fractured her cheek bone. Thankfully this woman had the strength to leave and report the assault to police before it could happen again."

Police Constable Diane Hancock from the Domestic Abuse Unit who worked closely with the victim said: "We are committed to protecting vulnerable victims who may be in abusive relationships and we are constantly learning how we can better protect and support victims of domestic abuse and take positive action against the perpetrators.

"The lessons learnt from the tragic murder of Clare Wood resulted in the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme, Clare's Law, which was piloted in Greater Manchester and is being rolled out nationally."

Anyone who is suffering domestic abuse, or knows someone who is a victim can call police on 999 or 101. Alternatively call the National Domestic Violence Helpline, run in partnership between Women's Aid and Refuge, can be contacted on 0800 2000 247.