Stourbridge thug locked up for attacking ex on way back from pub
A thug who attacked his former partner after breaking a court order which banned him from having any contact with her has been locked up for 15 months.
The 21-year-old victim agreed to meet Matthew Horton, aged 33, last December in defiance of the restraining order, a judge was told.
The couple, who had split up four months earlier, went for drinks at The Old Crispin in Church Street, Stourbridge but a row flared up as they drove away from the pub in his car, explained Miss Samantha Powis, prosecuting.
Horton, who had a history of violence, lashed out with one hand, fracturing her eye socket, explained Miss Samantha Powis, prosecuting.
The woman also suffered nerve damage as a result of the injury and was left with a constant 'tingling' feeling in her face.
She continued: "I hate this man. We had broken up in August of last year and then this is what he does to me four months later. Now I avoid Stourbridge in case I see him again."
Horton, from Chilton Road, Stourbridge, later admitted: "I struck her as hard as I could after losing my temper."
His barrister Mr Stephen Cobley said: "She had been complicit in the meeting during which they had an argument.
"He is sorry about the injury and the ongoing effect it has had on her.
"He accepts that he should not have been having any contact with her but things escalated quickly that night."
The defendant, who admitted causing grievous bodily harm between December 17 and 20, had been made the subject of the restraining order after being convicted of battery the previous August.
Recorder Adrian Reynolds told him: "This was set against a background of a number of other domestic problems but you chose to ignore the order.
"I am prepared to accept the victim was equally complicit in the meeting that breached the order but you then went on to assault her.
"Whatever the circumstances were in which you were violent, you inflicted an injury on a woman you had no right to be in the company of.
"Your behaviour showed why the restraining order was so important and why you should have abided by it."
Horton was sent to prison and made the subject of a fresh restraining order banning any contact with the woman for the next five years.
