A JUDGE has condemned a defendant’s “utter lack of remorse” following a case that left a victim and her children severely traumatised.
The Royal Court heard that the victim’s sense of safety in her own home had been “destroyed” by what was described as a “horrific” incident.
The defendant repeatedly interrupted as Commissioner Patricia Lees delivered the court’s sentence.
Connor Joshua Cameron James (34) was jailed for six years after being convicted of beating a woman with a chair, strangling her and leaving her home covered in blood.
James was found guilty of grave and criminal assault and malicious damage following a four-day Royal Court trial in June.
Crown Advocate Matthew Maletroit, prosecuting, said James met the woman on the dating app Hinge before going to her flat for “a chat”.
The woman did not know that James had been taking drugs and drinking – a combination which the court heard could make him lose his temper over “minor things”.
After James fell asleep on her sofa, the woman tried to get him to leave.
He then strangled her, stood over her as she lay on the floor and struck her over the head with a chair while her children slept next door.
Crown Advocate Maletroit described it as “a serious and prolonged assault”. The woman suffered numerous injuries, including some described as the worst forensic medical examiner Dr Deryn Evans had ever seen.
He left her in that state, lying on her living-room floor, with her face covered in blood
Crown Advocate Maletroit
Asking the court to examine photographs of the injuries, the prosecutor said: “By the time the defendant got off [the woman], she was badly injured. He had severely beaten her, inflicting multiple injuries from head to toe.
“He left her in that state, lying on her living-room floor, with her face covered in blood.”
He added: “It is by fortune alone that she didn’t suffer long-lasting or permanent injuries.”
The court heard that the woman suffered severe psychological harm and that her children were woken and traumatised by the attack.
James smashed the woman’s phone during the assault so that she could not call the police. She had to leave her flat and seek help from a member of the public.
Her home was left covered in blood stains, which she had to clean after being released from hospital.
During his police interview, James said that he could not remember the attack and was “clearly shocked” when shown photographs of the woman’s injuries.
He told officers: “It’s painful to think I could do such a thing. But who else could it be, the Bogeyman? It all points to me.”
However, James presented a different account at trial, alleging that the woman had falsely imprisoned and attacked him and that he had acted in self-defence. The jury rejected those claims.
Crown Advocate Maletroit sought a sentence of five-and-a-half years.
Advocate Olaf Blakeley, defending, suggested three-and-a-half years.
He argued that the sentence should be in line with the case of Andrew Scott Page, who was ultimately jailed for four years in 2024 for choking a woman until she almost passed out and attempting to gouge her eyes.
Delivering the sentence, Commissioner Lees called James’s attack “horrific”. She had to ask him to be quiet several times while she spoke.
“The utter lack of remorse you feel is palpable and your complete lack of insight extremely concerning,” she said.
The Commissioner said the woman’s home was “the place where she should feel most safe and secure”, adding: “That feeling, which we are all entitled to, has not just been shaken but destroyed.”
James received six years’ imprisonment for the grave and criminal assault and six months for the malicious damage, with the terms to run concurrently.
He was also made subject to a restraining order for an indeterminate period.
