South Yorkshire thug strangled, headbutted and bit two women

Jacque Roper-Shaw followed his ex-partner to her friend's home on St John's Road, Barnsley, on September 19, said prosecutor Zaiban Alam.

He headbutted his ex's friend in the face and smashed a whisky bottle over her head, before grabbing his ex and "throwing her right to left," then punching her repeatedly.

While she was on the floor, he kicked her face, head and neck, and stamped on her head, said Ms Alam. Roper-Shaw put his hands around his ex's throat and began squeezing, tighter and tighter.

"She was spluttering and struggling to breathe,” she said. “They were fearful he might kill both of them."

As his ex clawed at his face to make him stop, Roper-Shaw bit her fingers, then dragged her by the hair into a crouching position, and began kicking her.

Police arrived at 10.35pm, after the women managed to raise the alarm, and found his ex-partner “covered in blood."

When he was grabbed by a police officer, Roper-Shaw cleared his throat and spat at him, but missed.

The court heard his ex was left with soreness, lumps and bumps, and a hole in her tongue from biting it when she was kicked on the floor. The other victim had a suspected broken nose.

The court heard their "turbulent" and "violent" four-month relationship ended five days before the attack.

He has previous convictions for assaulting a police officer in 2013 and 2017, Ms Alam said, as well as robbery in 2017. And he received 18 months for racially aggravated common assault, using threatening words and behaviour in 2015, and was fined for two counts of battery in 2020.

Richard Canning, mitigating, conceded that a custodial sentence must follow, but said: “The injuries are, mercifully, not serious. They are minor scratches and bruises. He wishes to apologise for his actions. He does think of the victims fondly."

Roper-Shaw, aged 21, of Wilthorpe Avenue, Barnsley, pleaded guilty to two counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and assaulting an emergency worker.

On Friday, Judge Michael Slater sentenced him to three years in prison.

Read the latest cases from Sheffield Crown Court here.

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