A WARWICK man with an inability to control his violent temper stamped on the head of his partner’s teenage daughter while he was on bail for a similar attack on a work colleague.
And at Warwick Crown Court carpenter Alexander Barker paid the price for his viciousness – when he was jailed for a total of four years and eight months.
The 34-year-old, of Deansway, had pleaded guilty to inflicting grievous bodily harm and wounding, as well as two assaults on his then-partner.
Prosecutor Sophie Murray said on March 9 a carpenter turned up at a property in The Close, Leamington, where he had been working for over two weeks.
As he got out of his van he was approached by Barker, who had begun work there the previous week, shouting that he had not been paid for work he had done and wanted his money.
Barker pushed him to the ground and stamped on his head and body while shouting he wanted his money. He then threw his victim’s keys over a hedge and drove away.
Miss Murray said as a result of the attack the victim had a fractured cheekbone, swelling to his forehead and soft tissue injuries to his shoulder and elbow.
When Barker was arrested he admitted punching and kicking his victim, but not stamping on him, and he was released on bail.
Barker had been in a relationship with a woman since 2019, and at the beginning of the lockdown he had moved into her address, where her daughter also lived when not at university or at her boyfriend’s.
At the beginning of April this year he and his partner argued, during which Barker kicked open a door with such force that it came off its hinges, causing it to strike his partner’s head, knocking her unconscious.
The daughter found her mother unconscious and bleeding. Barker’s partner did not report the incident, and about two weeks later another argument broke out, during which he grabbed her around the throat.
Again, she did not report it, and in August there was a further incident when he became aggressive.
Three weeks later the daughter arrived at the house, and when she did not give Barker a warm greeting after he opened the door to her, he complained she had ‘an attitude problem’.
His temper was further stoked when the daughter responded: “Why would I be nice to someone who beats up my mum?”
Barker ran at her and kicked her to the stomach, knocking her to the floor.
And as she curled up in a ball, he stamped on her head, leaving her with a gaping wound to her head which bled heavily and needed seven stitches.
When arrested, Barker claimed it was the daughter who had attacked him, and that she must have hit her head when he got her off by pulling her to the floor.
Miss Murray added Barker had previous convictions for battery as a juvenile, assault in 2008 and affray in 2013.
Ian Speed, defending, said after the first incident he would have submitted that Barker needed anger management, but added: “He knows he’s going to remain in custody now, because it’s going to be immediate custody.”
Jailing Barker, Judge Peter Cooke told him: “You clearly have an entrenched inability to control your temper when things get on top of you in a domestic or work context.
