Derbyshire man headbutted his partner and smashed her phone in violent tantrum

Sam Glasby began arguing with his partner over someone who had messaged her and stormed into the kitchen, where he called her names and screamed in her face on April 24, 2022.

He goaded her into slapping him in the face and then headbutted her, said prosecutor Annabel Lenton. She heard her nose crack and blood poured out.

He pushed her halfway across the living room where she curled up and covered her face. She ended up apologising, but when she wanted to go to hospital Glasby told her she didn’t need to.

On July 15 she texted him to end the relationship. Glasby, aged 32, demanded she pick him up from work and went to the pub.

He later grabbed her phone and saw a text from her father mentioning the police. He smashed the phone on the pavement seven times before trying to snap it in half.

His partner went to her parents' home and her dad rang the police. After his arrest she felt “like a huge weight was lifted from her”, said Ms Lenton.

Nottingham Crown Court heard he has four previous convictions for seven offences, including racially-aggravated common assault which led to a suspended sentence in 2016.

Andrew Wesley, mitigating, said Glasby suffers from depression and abused drugs after serving in Afghanistan. He is now working with a mental health service for veterans.

Glasby, of Valley Road, Shirebrook, admitted assault causing actual bodily harm and criminal damage when he appeared at the magistrates’ court on January 18.

On Thursday, Judge Stuart Rafferty KC told him: “This court wearies of men who think it is appropriate to treat women as punching bags.

“Of course you have problems, I understand that. Your principal guilt is pretending you didn’t.”

He said Glasby made himself into a “time bomb” that went off twice in the four-month relationship.

Glasby received a 15-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, alongside a two-year community order with an accredited programme and ten rehabilitation days.

A five-year restraining order was imposed and he must pay £1,000 compensation to his victim.