Thug tortured his partner with a knife and made her swallow her engagement ring at their home in Leeds

A violent thug made his partner swallow her engagement ring and tortured her with a knife during a campaign of humiliating abuse.
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Sandu Voicu also cut off the victim's hair and kept her handcuffed in a cellar as "punishment".

Voicu was given an extended prison sentence of seven years and ten months after a judge at Leeds Crown Court told him he represented a serious danger to women.

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Alex Menary, prosecuting, said Voicu and the woman had been in a long-term relationship.

Sandu Voicu had given an extended prison sentence of seven years, ten months.Sandu Voicu had given an extended prison sentence of seven years, ten months.
Sandu Voicu had given an extended prison sentence of seven years, ten months.

The offences were committed in September last year when Voicu and the woman moved to the UK.

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He forced her to go into the cellar at their home in Harehills and she was restrained using handcuffs.

The defendant threatened to cut out her eyes with a knife and cut off her nose.

He then used the weapon to cut off her hair.

The knife was also used to cut the woman's ankles.

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Mr Menary said it was an attempt to cut her tendons to prevent her from running away from him.

He made her stand naked outside their home and threw cold water over her.

Voicu then took her back inside the house and beat her up.

CCTV footage showed the woman running from her home wearing only her bra.

Police were contacted after she was helped by a member of the public.

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Voicu, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to two counts of false imprisonment, two counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and one count of controlling or coercive behaviour in an intimate relationship.

The court was told Voicu had told a probation officer he had committed the offences because he was upset.

Sentencing, Judge Christopher Batty told defendant: "It was in fact torturous and degrading conduct designed to humiliate her and it was only ever a way of punishing her and trying to re-establish the control you had lost. When you felt this had not worked, you did it again some nights later."

He added: "The CCTV footage of her running through the streets utterly terrified gives the clearest indication of the impact of your conduct on her.

"If it had not been for a public-spirited member of the public who contacted police goodness knows how this may have ended."