[A] CARLISLE man accused of three alleged assaults on his former partner has gone on trial at the city’s crown court.
Nathan Aaron Bell, 27, faces a total of six charges, all of which he denies.
Opening the case this afternoon (MON), prosecutor Cecilia Pritchard told jurors Bell was made subject to a restraining order in June last year. This prohibited him from having direct and indirect contact with Jodie Liddell, with whom he had been in a relationships which, the court heard was not “without its problems”.
But Bell stood accused of three alleged breaches of that restraining order – once in August and two in September. Miss Pritchard also alleged that Bell had assaulted Miss Liddell on three separate dates.
On one occasion Bell allegedly punched her during a car journey. On another, at his family home in Carlisle, alleged Miss Pritchard, he “tried to strangle her and put his thumbs into her eyes”.
Bell, of Lindisfarne Street, Carlisle, was arrested and interviewed. “He accepted there was a restraining order in place but he denies,” said Miss Pritchard, “any offences that he is charged with”.
The trial continues.
