(Image: West Yorkshire Police)
A man who strangled a woman in the street has been jailed after a court heard that he had showed no remorse over what he had done.
Stefan Windle put both hands round the woman’s throat, tightened his grip, and pinned her against a fence after first attempting to swing a plastic garden chair at her during a loud and aggressive row on May 6 this year.
Prosecuting barrister Syed Khukon told Bradford Crown Court how the woman did not lose consciousness but could not remember what happened as she was struggling to breathe. She was left with red marks on her neck.
After the attack, Windle drove off and the police were called. He was arrested the following morning after going to a police station.
Victim has regular flashbacks to the incident
In an interview he denied the offences and accused the woman of lying.
She has since moved away.
Windle later pleaded guilty to intentional strangulation, assault by beating, and common assault.
In a statement the victim said she had been left anxious and had experienced regular flashbacks to the incident.
Man has previous
The court heard that Windle, 32, of Willowfield View, Halifax, had a previous conviction from 2022 for assault occasioning actual bodily harm against a former partner and her colleague.
The court heard that during that violent incident he broke a car window, punched the colleague multiple times and then his ex-partner before dragging her out of the car and forcing her into his own vehicle and driving off.
He then assaulted her again.
For that Windle was sentenced to 23 months in prison suspended for 18 months. He was also handed a five-year restraining order.
'Nasty and mean offences'
Mitigating, Lucy Finney told the court that Windle had a strong prospect of rehabilitation and that the sentence he faced was capable of being suspended even though his offending crossed the custody threshold.
She said: “It’s clear that he’s not remorseful or accepts responsibility for these offences, so I can’t put that forward to the court.”
Describing Windle’s previous offending as “a significant aggravating factor”, Mr Recorder Abdul Iqbal said: “These offences were nasty and mean offences against a woman who showed no ability to defend herself against the force that you were using against her.”
Addressing Windle’s denials and that his guilty pleas were entered “on a pragmatic basis” citing sentencing credit available to him for an early plea, he added: “Your pragmatism was misguided.
“You have shown no insight and no remorse.
Man jailed
“The question for me is whether there is a reasonable prospect of rehabilitation. There is not. Therefore the 22 months’ imprisonment will be served immediately.”
He told Windle that he would serve up to half that period in custody before being released on licence.
He also handed him a five-year restraining order banning all contact with the victim.
Recorder Iqbal said he could not safely conclude that Windle was a dangerous offender and that there was a significant risk of serious harm from him in the future.
But he warned: “You should understand this: if when you are released from custody you use violence again, there will come a time when you will be found [to be] a dangerous offender.
“Your advocate will explain to you the consequences of that type of sentence.”