A FORMER gym instructor has been jailed for a "cowardly" attack on his girlfriend in a restaurant. John Williams, 40, has been sent to prison for three months for slapping his partner twice, before smashing up her car.
Judge Jeremy Richardson described the assault as "distinctly cowardly" and hoped a short spell in jail would "bring him to his senses".
At the time of the assault, Williams, of Holderness Road, east Hull, who is still in a relationship with his girlfriend, was serving a suspended sentence. Prosecuting, Jhana Jobes, told Hull Crown Court Williams' girlfriend suffered minor injuries and would have to replace the windscreen and wing mirror of her car.
Mrs Jobes said: "He did say he lost his temper."
Last year, Williams was convicted of attacking a man outside a pub, the suspended sentence for which expired 15 days ago. Defending Williams, Harold Bloomfield said the father-of-two and his girlfriend had a "turbulent relationship".
He said: "It is no coincidence that since the relationship started, Mr Williams has found himself on the police radar as opposed to under it. Had it not been for this suspended sentence order, the magistrates would have considered a community penalty."
Sentencing him to one month for two counts of assault, two weeks concurrent for criminal damage and two months for the breach of suspended sentence, Judge Richardson said: "Men like you who attack girlfriends in the ways described, repeatedly and in a public place, deserve to go to prison for a short while if they have previous convictions for violence. This violent streak needs to be eradicated. You need to be punished for what you have done wrong.
"What a cowardly thing to do, to attack a woman. I hope this short period of imprisonment will bring you to your senses."
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