A child entering the room prompted a drunken man – in the midst of strangling his former partner – to stop, a court heard. She had refused to buy stolen meat from him.
Lawrence King, 34, of Tribune Court, Cambridge, turned up at the victim’s home in the city drunk on 13 August holding a black holdall.
When the woman declined the meat, he grabbed her by the throat, so she was unable to breath and didn’t let go until one of her children entered the room.
King then proceeded to smash items in the kitchen, he threw a knife at the woman and kicked over a high chair.
The woman, in her 30s, called police and King left. He was arrested the following day.
At Cambridge Crown Court on Friday (3 November), King was sentenced to four and a half years in prison after previously pleading guilty to intentional strangulation, criminal damage, breach of a Criminal Behaviour Order and theft.
He was also handed a six-year restraining order not to contact the victim.
Detective Constable Charlotte Anderson-Chapman, who investigated, said: “King’s behaviour that day was simply appalling. No child should have to witness the violence he showed towards the victim and her property. The victim’s children were understandably hysterical with worry.
“I hope this sentence reassures the family that justice has been served and combined with the restraining order, they will feel safe in their own home now.”
