Thug beat girlfriend 'almost every day' at her Leeds home and told her what to wear
and on Freeview 262 or Freely 565
It was only when the woman plucked up the courage to attend the police station, that Joshua Thornton was finally arrested.
The 22-year-old admitted a single offence of coercive or controlling behaviour in an intimate relationship, but only on the first day his trial was due to take place at Leeds Magistrates’ Court.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdHe appeared at Leeds Crown Court this week via video link from HMP Leeds, where he was being held on remand.
Prosecutor Andrew Nixon said that the couple had been in a relationship for four years, but after about a year he started to become aggressive and assault her. The woman said she would receive kicks and punches “almost every day”.


She said small disagreements would escalate and result in her receiving bruising or a “bust lip”.
The woman’s mother found out and Thornton was banned from attending the house where she lived with her daughter. She publicly broke up with him, but would see him privately.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdIn the autumn of last year, the victim got her own place and Thornton moved in almost immediately. During a rage in November, he damaged two TVs and the bed. He also kicked her in the face, leaving bruises.
On July 27 of this year, police attended the address and Thornton threatened her to tell the officers he was somebody else. He gave a false ID and they left. But in the early hours of the next morning he punched her to the eye causing it to close immediately.
She called the police and he fled through the window. She later visited the police station.
She said she was not allowed to go out with people, he stopped her wearing certain clothes but had to wear certain items to cover the bruises and marks he had caused.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdThornton, of Berkeley Mount, Harehills, denied any wrongdoing during his police interview, claiming it was a “loving” relationship and that she caused the injuries to herself. He went as far as saying he was the one being controlled.
Mitigating, Harry Crowson said Thornton had a “scattered” upbringing, having left school at 14 or 15. He said his parents had split up and moved away but he stayed with his great aunty in Harehills.
Mr Crowson said Thornton had time to reflect in prison and it had given him time to “screw his head on”. He said he was using his jail time wisely, taking courses and gaining qualifications and had plans for when he was released.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdThe judge, Recorder Edward Legard told Thornton: “This offence represents a cowardly and particularly unpleasant campaign of domestic abuse. You subjected her to a prolonged and repeated beating over a three-year period.
“Much of it took place out of sight and behind closed doors.”
He said the photos of the woman’s injuries made “sickening viewing”. He gave him a three-year jail sentence and a five-year restraining order to keep him away from the victim.