'Toxic' Lancashire man given restraining order although girlfriend wants him back | Preston Crown Court

A violent bully has been banned from his own home for two years after admitting assaulting his partner. Gary Round was given a restraining order barring him from even visiting the address – despite his girlfriend of 20 years wanting him back.

Preston Crown Court heard the woman, who told police in March she was “scared for her life” living with Round, had since rekindled the relationship while he had been in prison on remand. But, after jailing him for 16 weeks for common assault, Judge Michael Maher insisted on a restraining order to allow the victim “a safe space” if he became violent again.

He told Round: “She wants to continue to live with you. I am permitting her to continue her relationship with you, but I am giving her a safe space, a sanctuary from you. You are a bully and this court abhors bullies.”

The court was told the couple had been together for two decades in what the judge described as “an utterly toxic relationship”.

Round, 52, who appeared via video link from HMP Preston, had previously been jailed for eight months for assaulting her causing actual bodily harm and possessing a bladed article at the time.

And Judge Maher added: “When she is beaten again, as she will be, it is necessary and proper to protect the victim.”

Barrister Claire Larton, prosecuting, said the couple had been together since 2006 when Round was released from prison after serving a previous sentence.

The couple had been living together for the past 15 years and were most recently sharing a terraced house in Richmond Street, Burnley paid for by their joint benefits. The court heard that one night, following a row, Round grabbed his partner by the hair and dragged her off the couch and into another room.

When questioned by police about the assault the woman gave a statement saying: “I am scared all the time to call the police because of what he says he will do if I do. But I have realised I can’t go on like this with him controlling me and assaulting me. I am scared of him constantly. It will end up with me being seriously injured of even worse. He just refuses to leave me alone. He just loves having the power over me.”

But since Round had been in prison awaiting sentence his partner had resumed contact with him and she wanted him to return home after he was released.

Talking about a restraining order Ms Larton said: “She definitely doesn’t want one. She has had the defendant in her life for 20 years. She has no-one else. She was tearful on the phone asking what sentence he would face today.”

She added that the couple’s finances were linked and if Round was prevented from living at the rented property then it was possible the couple would lose the house. And banning him just from Richmond Street wouldn’t necessarily mean they couldn’t see each other.

“The reality is that if she wishes to continue the relationship and continue to see him the existence of a restraining order wouldn’t prevent that. She could see him and not report it. The relationship can exist regardless of the order. It is clear she intends to reconcile and renew the relationship.”

Dr Sacha Waxman, representing Round, told Judge Maher that banning him from returning to the Richmond Street address would “inevitably result in the loss of the property”.

“This is a couple who want to be together,” she said. Barring him from going home might cause him to return to abusing alcohol which had been at the root of his problems. He had been doing well in jail on a detox programme and wanted to continue that on his release.

Judge Maher told Round that he had resumed contact with his partner while in custody. He had at least one previous conviction for assaulting the woman who had become virtually a prisoner in her own home.

He said he could only sentence him for what he had been convicted of “whatever reservations or suspicions I may have”.

The court, he said, had a duty to provide the victim with sanctuary, a safe place to go when she needed it. And even though the house in Richmond Street was their joint home, he felt he needed to prevent Round from going there to protect his partner.

“This is a poisonous relationship and has been for many years,” he added. “And in my view you (Round) are primarily the cause of that toxicity. On the 13th of March, during yet another argument, you grabbed her by the hair so strongly you dragged her off the sofa and into another room. “You were intent on ejecting her from the property, but that didn’t actually happen. She is obviously vulnerable. This attack required a substantial degree of force.”

The judge said he had to consider a restraining order even if the victim was arguing against it. “I don’t require her consent in order to make such an order.

“It is palpably clear to me that she is a victim who labours under your malign influence. She is entitled to regard her home as her sanctuary. If she wants to continue a relationship with a violent individual so be it.But you will not enter the street where she lives for the next two years.”

Round was given 16 weeks in prison for the assault charge. But because he has already been behind bars on remand for longer than that he is expected to be released immediately.