(Image: Durham Constabulary)
A Royal Navy serviceman threw corrosive liquid into his long-term partner’s face in one of two serious drunken assaults in less than two years.
Durham Crown Court heard the attack by John Aiston risked causing long-term damage to his victim’s eyesight.
Hospital clinicians struggled to wash the liquid from the victim’s face, while Aiston offered little help in identifying the dog-kennel cleaner.
When a medic asked over the phone for a photograph of the container’s chemical ingredients, he replied: “f*** off”.
Royal Navy serviceman John Aiston jailed for six years for 'highly dangerous' drunken assaults on now ex-partner (Image: Durham Constabulary)
In an earlier attack, Aiston held a knife to his partner’s neck and headbutted her, possibly breaking her nose.
But she was reticent to seek medical help in case it resulted in Aiston, "getting into trouble."
Aiston, 55, of a cottage at Low Urpeth Farm, near Ouston, County Durham, appeared at the court for sentence on Friday, (October 2), after admitting grievous bodily harm, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, threatening someone with a bladed article and two counts of criminal damage.
Prosecutor Ellen Wright said Aiston had been drinking at home before he began making derogatory remarks to his partner in October 2023.
During the row, he grabbed her by the throat, threatened her with a knife and used it to cut her pyjama bottoms.
Aiston also headbutted her, making her nose bleed, then continued shouting and smashed dishes.
He picked up a piece of crystal and scratched her face with it.
She found a valuable necklace with deep sentimental value broken, and Aiston had also damaged her iPad.
Miss Wright said police were contacted, but the victim did not want to make a formal complaint at the risk of getting Aiston into trouble.
He admitted holding a knife to her throat but said he had not used it, while confessing to headbutting his partner.
She was advised to have an X-ray to check the damage, but chose not to because she did not want Aiston to be brought to book.
The victim said it was the first time he had been violent towards her, but in July 2025, while she was studying for an exam, Aiston became agitated as he drank in the garden and told her to get off her laptop.
He rang her from outside and told her to come out and clean the garden.
She began tidying the garden, but another row broke out over which trees she touched.
Aiston went into the conservatory, then returned shouting and threw liquid at her.
As she tried to clean her eyes, he grabbed her, emptied a can of water over her head and threatened to drown her.
The victim went to the bathroom to clean her eyes, while a neighbour checked on her and Aiston referred to her as, “a little princess”.
She was taken to hospital, where clinicians tried to wash out her eyes but needed to know which chemicals were involved, to which Aiston gave the derogatory, dismissive response.
The victim needed long-term care for eye irritation and dryness.
Miss Wright said her recent impact statement described continuing irritation affecting her vision and limiting the time she can spend at a computer screen.
The defendant was said to be of previous good character, with no convictions or cautions.
Ashleigh Leach, for Aiston, said he was intoxicated during both incidents and, “not thinking properly.”
But she said he accepted there was no excuse for his behaviour towards his partner of 14 years.
“He’s in the Navy and would be away for months at a time, which put added strain on the relationship.
“When he was on leave for long periods of time, he would feel at a loss and exacerbated his stress by drinking.”
Miss Leach said he could not, otherwise, explain his “impulsive and out of character” behaviour.
Judge Nathan Adams told Aiston that his partner was too frightened to seek medical help after the first attack, which she treated as a “one-off dispute”.
But in the second attack, he risked seriously injuring her with potentially highly dangerous corrosive liquid.
The judge said alcohol appeared to have triggered the offences, despite Aiston denying he had a drinking problem.
Judge Adams said Aiston’s responses to the probation report appeared “delusional”, including his suggestion that he and his ex-partner could sit down and discuss their problems.
The judge jailed Aiston for six years and told him to use his time behind bars to tackle his alcohol and other problems.
He also imposed a 10-year restraining order prohibiting Aiston from contacting or approaching his victim.
The court heard that a Ministry of Defence official was observing the case.