A man has been given a prison sentence for assaulting his partner after leaving a shoe, Cinderella-style, at the scene of his crime.
Christopher Parrish, 38, visited a Cleator Moor address where the woman had been sleeping at around six 6.30pm on May 30.
Parrish began banging on a window, demanding to be let in. But when entry was refused, Parrish climbed on to a window sill and then into the property.
Carlisle Crown Court heard today that the startled woman left the address but was “accosted” in the back garden.
The woman asked a neighbour to call police after she was grabbed by the throat and verbally abused by Parrish, who swiftly left the scene before officers arrived.
However, Parrish left a training shoe at the woman’s address which, prosecutor Tim Evans told the court, allowed police to make a “Cinderella-type match” to an item of footwear found at the defendant’s own home.
In court, Parrish denied strangulation of the woman but admitted a lesser offence of common assault which the prosecution deemed an acceptable resolution of the case.
Parrish had previous offences of violence and court order breaches on his record, but had been out of trouble for six years before the 2023 assault.
Defence barrister, Kim Whittlestone, spoke of Parrish’s past struggles with alcohol and a period of sobriety before he relapsed earlier this year in the wake of two bereavements.
“He fully acknowledges he was on the wrong,” said Miss Whittlestone of the assault on his ex.
Hearing that Parrish, of Mill Hill, Cleator Moor, had been in custody on remand since May 31, Recorder Tony Hawks imposed an eight-week prison sentence which was likely to result in the defendant’s immediate release.
But the judge told him: “You know perfectly well that assaulting women in domestic circumstances is regarded by the courts as extremely serious and will almost always result in a sentence of imprisonment.
Parrish was banned from contacting the woman under the tough terms of a restraining order.
