A MAN who flew into a "fit of drunken rage" and left his partner with "very unpleasant injuries" has been jailed.

Grant Woods, aged 50 and of no fixed abode, appeared for sentence at Mold Crown Court on Wednesday.

He'd admitted two counts of actual bodily harm and one count of criminal damage under £5,000 at Mold Magistrates Court in April.

The defendant subjected Nicola Parry, his partner of nine years, to a sustained attack in the home they shared in Ewloe on two occasions last year.

The first incident happened on September 24, when Ms Parry came home and Woods had been drinking.

She found him asleep on the sofa with an empty bottle of whiskey by him and she went about her day, making dinner and preparing to walk her dog.

However, Woods awoke and proceeded to lose his temper with her, using the ‘blade’ of his hand to chop her in the throat.

He then grabbed her by the throat ‘for a few seconds’ before ‘returning to normal’.

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The next day, the couple went for a meal but Woods bought a bottle of gin on the way home and began drinking again.

He attacked her, punching her in the ribs and despite her pulling a hood up, he managed to grab enough hair to leave a bald patch.

The Leader: Grant Woods (NWP)Grant Woods (NWP) (Image: North Wales Police)Woods also tried to gouge her right eye, then threw a money box across the room, smashing it in the process and also smashed her mobile phone.

Judge Rhys Rowlands was told that prior to 2022 the relationship had been solid but became more volatile when Woods increased his drinking.

The Judge agreed to stand the matter down the previous week in order for Woods to undergo an assessment with probation to explore his suitability for an alcohol treatment requirement.

But, Judge Rowlands quoted from the report, the defendant had turned up to the assessment intoxicated.

He smelled of alcohol and claimed he'd been "celebrating a friend's birthday."

Woods told probation officers he was "not alcohol dependent" and drank three times a week simply "because he enjoys drinking."

As such, he was not deemed to be suitable for an alcohol treatment requirement.

Maria Masselis, defending, said the defendant's behaviour had come about as a result of "chronic grief" following the death of his father, and turning to his existing alcohol problem as a means of self-medicating.

She asked the court to consider deferring sentence in order to give Woods a chance to work with the probation service and to engage with voluntary alcohol treatment.

"It's not about him," she said, "it's about his risk to Ms Parry and to the general public.

"It is they who will benefit from him having this treatment.

"Pleading guilty is the best demonstration of his remorse.

The Leader:

"I invite the court to take from the victim personal statement how wildly out of character [Ms Parry] said this behaviour is in the context of a lengthy relationship.

"She described the nine years they have been together with the defendant being a loving, supportive partner."

Judge Rowlands told the defendant his offences had been carried out "in a fit of drunken rage" and resulted in his partner sustaining "very unpleasant injuries."

He said: "The root of it all is that you drink far too much - something you're not able to recognise.

"The court has tried to avoid an immediate custodial sentence but you've shown by your attitude that you're not prepared to help yourself."

Woods was jailed for a total of 21 months.