Corby 'monster' who knelt on pregnant woman until she passed-out sent to prison

He beat her and strangled her over several days, blaming his actions on alcohol
Craig Andrew Stephen KyleCraig Andrew Stephen Kyle
Craig Andrew Stephen Kyle

A judge has told a 'monster' who beat his pregnant partner leaving her with a haematoma in her skull and bruised all over her body that it was a 'miracle' he didn't harm his unborn child.

Craig Kyle, of Cannock Road, Corby, attacked the woman in his home over several days in May last year.

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He pushed his thumb into her neck so that she couldn't breathe, dragged her from a bed by her ankles so she hit her head on the floor and bashed her head against a wall.

Northampton Crown Court was told today (Friday, March 26) that Kyle, 36, and the woman had both had alcohol addictions and that he had begun to beat her in March last year after the pair began to live together in Corby. He was charged with three counts of assault and she left the home.

But on May 17, when she was 18 weeks pregnant with his child and while he was still on bail for those three assaults, she moved back in with him. The following day, Kyle began drinking heavily. After taking offence to something she had said he pushed her head back and throttled her, pushing his thumb into her windpipe.

Prosecuting, Andrew Howarth, said: "She was telling him he couldn't breathe.

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"Then his behaviour became erratic. He slammed doors, began to play music while she was trying to sleep.

"Then in the early hours of the morning he started talking gibberish, saying 'are you listening to me' and lunged for her and repeatedly strangled her, hit her against the bedside cabinet and pulled her hair."

The following day Kyle went out for more alcohol and again began to assault her, 'bashing her, beating her and strangling her.'

When she went to bed he pulled her by her ankles so her head hit the floor then knelt on her until she passed out. When she got back into bed, he returned into the room and spat on her and hit her head against the wall.

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The next morning she managed to phone 999 and Kyle pulled the phone from her, damaging it, and hitting her head against a cupboard.

Police took the victim to KGH where she was found to have extensive bruising to the whole of her face, her jaw, her neck, collar bone, arms and legs. She had pain in her chest and a CT scan showed a haematoma in her skull.

In a victim personal statement to the court, the woman said that she 'did not recognise the man he had become.'

"I can only describe him as a monster," she said.

"I was not sure how far he'd go. This has broken my heart. I gave up my whole life for him."

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Kyle was arrested the following day and at a subsequent court hearing, admitted one count of actual bodily harm.

In mitigation, Kyle's barrister Jonathan Woodcock asked Her Honour Judge Adrienne Lucking not to jail his client. He said he had no previous record of assaulting other partners and that he had otherwise been described as a 'thoroughly decent person'.

"This is not ordinarily a man who has a history of violence," he said.

"He doesn't seek to minimise what he did to the victim. He doesn't have disrespect for women. This was an exceptionally bad period for both of them.

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"There were no stitches required. It wasn't necessary to admit her to hospital.

"He's otherwise led a hard-working, decent life. There's not risk to anyone else."

Kyle was on bail for the three previous assaults when this incident took place. He was later jailed for 16 weeks for those offences and served that sentence last summer.

Judge Lucking said: "When she made her 999 call she was absolutely terrified.

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"I remember her shaking voice. It was quite clear that she was in fear of begin assaulted again, having been assaulted by you over several days. She was terrified of you in your own home.

"She described your behaviour as psychotic episodes, which is a reflection of how frightened she was.

"You clearly intended to cause more serious harm than you did.

"It's a miracle that her unborn child was not injured in the course of the incident."

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She said that his actions were aggravated by his gratuitous degradation of the victim

"I am satisfied you do present a risk to people you are in a relationship with when you consuming alcohol," she added.

"You simply can't trust yourself to consume alcohol because you become a completely different person when you've been drinking."

Sentencing guidelines recommend a sentence of between one and three years for these offences. Judge Lucking said that when sentencing him she had taken into account his early guilty plea, his issues with alcohol, the sentence her served last year, his personal mitigation and the effect of coronavirus on prisoners.Kyle was sentenced to 18 months in prison. He will serve half in jail and the remainder in the community on licence.

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