A HUSBAND accused of attacking his wife inside a Carlisle flat, leaving her “bloodied and bruised”, has gone on trial.
Kevin Steel, 53, denies one charge. This alleges that he assaulted Hannah Steel, causing her actual bodily harm, during a domestic incident which police attended at around 4am on April 20.
Opening Steel’s trial to a jury at Carlisle Crown Court today (TUES), prosecutor Jon Close alleged: “The Crown say that the defendant beat and abused his partner, leaving her bloodied and bruised.”
Police body-cam footage played in court showed officers forcing entry through a communal door at the South Henry Street block of flats after a woman’s screams were heard through a partially open window.
After Steel answered a door, PCs entered and saw Hannah Steel, who repeatedly stated: “He’s just attacked me.” Mrs Steel, said Mr Close, was “bleeding from her mouth”.
Steel, the court heard, had insisted he acted in “self-defence” and, Mr Close added, “that he was asleep on a sofa; that she attacked him”.
“He said he may have pushed her in the face. That’s what caused the injury,” said the prosecutor of the account given by Steel, of Burnrigg, Carlisle.
The trial continues.