Huddersfield woman attacked with baseball bat by boyfriend before jumping out of window to escape

A woman was forced to jump from her flat window to escape her boyfriend who was beating her with a baseball bat.Police were called to the Huddersfield flat on 30 January, finding it covered with blood and the victim in her neighbour's home.

Leeds Crown Court heard that the woman had gone home at around 3pm and found her partner, James Dollive, inside.

She had told Dollive, 33, of Holme Park, Huddersfield, that he was not allowed to come to her house after a previous attack on Christmas Day, though he had continued to do so and would be violent if she did not let him in.

Prosecutor Holly Clegg said Dollive had been "calm at first" but demanded money from the victim. She gave it to him, but he came back a short while later and was abusive to her, both at the house and when they later went to dinner.

When they arrived home, Dollive started gambling on the woman's phone. She told him she did not want to be with him but he "wouldn't accept it" and she asked him to leave.

Ms Clegg said: "He had her phone and the front door was locked and he had the keys so she couldn't get out.

"At around 9am on New Year's Eve the police were called by a neighbour who had seen her jump out of a window covered in blood."

When the police arrived, the woman was at her neighbour's house and was "very distressed". Officers went into the flat, and in the bedroom found blood. The victim told officers Dollive had used a baseball bat to hit her around 12 times.

Ms Clegg said the victim knew Dollive "wouldn't stop until she was dead", forcing her to jump out of the window.

As the prosecution outlined its case, Dollive could be heard over a video link from custody saying it was "all lies".

During the attack on Christmas Day, the victim said Dollive had been drunk but "not excessively", though changed and became aggressive.

He threatened the woman and punched her in the face before her sister attempted to intervene, but Dollive headbutted her and she felt a "pop to her nose" before he attacked her with a stool.

Ms Clegg said: "A man tried to calm him down and his girlfriend tried to intervene and he forced her head down and punched her to the face."

Dollive's partner went to hospital the next day for a laceration to her eye, which she was unable to see from for around a month.Carl Kingsley, mitigating, described the couple's relationship as "toxic" but said Dollive accepted responsibility for his crimes.

Dollive, meanwhile, told the court: "I was attacked by three people, did you want me to stand there and let them beat me up?"

He pleaded guilty to two counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and wounding, but had been subject to a suspended sentence and community order at the time he committed the offences.

The court also heard that Dollive had 29 convictions for 58 previous offences, including assault occasioning actual bodily harm and battery.Sentencing him, the judge said: "You have a number of previous convictions for violence.

"What happened on these two occasions was absolutely disgraceful behaviour on your part."

He was jailed for four years, and will have to serve two-thirds of his sentence in custody before being eligible for release.

Dollive was also made the subject of a 12-year restraining order prohibiting him from contacting his ex-partner or her sister.

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