Rothwell man who strangled ex handed more time behind bars after trying to contact her from prison

A Rothwell man who strangled his ex will spend more time behind bars after sending his victim cards from prison.

Geoffrey Butler was jailed in March 2023 and banned from contacting his former partner through a restraining order.

But the 31-year-old, who is serving his sentence at Wellingborough’s HMP Five Wells, went on to breach the order in the summer.

Northamptonshire Police said he made contact with her through an associate and also sent her cards from prison.

This month at Northampton Magistrates’ Court Butler pleaded guilty to two counts of breaching a restraining order and one of attempting to breach a restraining order.

He was sentenced to 32 weeks in prison, which will be served consecutively to his sentence of three years and 10 weeks for non-fatal strangulation and assault causing actual bodily harm, which he had denied.

Butler’s breaches of the restraining order came in early July 2023, just after a bid to have his sentence reduced was thrown out by Court of Appeal judges in London.

Northampton Crown Court previously heard that Butler was already on bail when he launched the attack on his victim, who he had previously been in a relationship with, just before Christmas in 2022.

He raised his left hand to her throat and “squeezed it to the point where she was coughing”, the court heard, and she also felt a rush of blood to her head but could still breathe.

He then pushed her to the floor and sat on top of her before putting her in a headlock and causing her to hit her head on a wall.

In a victim impact statement read out by a prosecutor Butler’s former partner said she was left with bruising to her neck, arms and legs and was constantly reliving what had happened.

She added that she was on edge, scared to go out and not feeling safe in her own home.

She said: "Every time I saw the bruises I would be sat thinking about that night and I wanted to forget about it but I couldn't."