'Terrifying ordeal' Lancashire man attacked girlfriend after seeing text message | From Preston Crown Court

A knife-wielding drunk who attacked his partner over a message he found on her phone has been jailed by a judge in Preston.

Philip Lansberger burst into the woman’s house after a boozy session and hit her about the head while holding a blade in his fist. Luckily the weapon caused only a superficial wound to her cheek, Judge Ian Unsworth was told at the city’s Crown Court.

Lansberger, of Albert Street, Accrington, pleaded guilty to assault causing actual bodily harm and possessing a bladed article. He was sentenced to a total of 21 months in prison.

The court heard that in April 2024 the 43-year-old had been using his girlfriend’s phone and came across a message which upset him.

Barrister Megan Cox, prosecuting, said he left the house without saying a word, but returned later in the day saying he wanted to collect his belongings. When he returned a second time he let himself in through the front door and had a knife clenched in his hand.

He later admitted: “I was really drunk. I had had a lot of beer and a bottle of wine.”

He punched the woman three times to the top of her head and to her cheek calling her a “slag”. But in the struggle he also suffered injuries which needed an ambulance. The blade was examined by forensic experts and was found to have the woman’s DNA on the tip. The wound on the cheek was described in court as “really just a minor scratch”.

In a victim impact statement read out in court the woman said that the reason for the attack by her partner “will forever be a mystery”. She added she had only realised after the event how close she had come to being facially disfigured.

Ms Fox told the judge that Lansberger’s criminal record showed a string of previous offences of violence – two of them against the same woman.

Defence barrister Richard Flook urged the judge to step back from imposing an immediate jail term saying his client had made good progress towards turning his life around in the two years since the offences took place.

He had been the one who suffered the more serious injuries on the night of the assault but he had also been very lucky, said Mr Flook, that the injuries caused to his partner were not more serious, punching her to the face while holding a knife.

Lansberger had claimed he could not remember much, if anything, about the events of that night after drinking so much alcohol. He had expressed genuine remorse for his actions and had written to the victim to ask for forgiveness. He accepted his behaviour was unwarranted. At the time, he said, he had been struggling with his mental health and it had been “spiralling out of control” due to issues with alcohol and cocaine.

Judge Unsworth told Lansberger that violence in a domestic setting was viewed very seriously by courts. He said: “You were really drunk. You hit her four times to the head and remarkably she only sustained a cut on the cheek, consistent with an injury caused by a knife.

“This must have been a terrifying incident for your victim. This attack by someone drunk holding a knife must have been a terrifying ordeal for her.”

Judge Unsworth said the only appropriate sentence due to his previous convictions of violence was an immediate period in prison. He sentenced Lansberger to 21 months for ABH assault and 21 months for possessing a bladed article – both to run concurrently.