Ex-Whitby pub boss jailed for vicious attack which left former partner with perforated eardrum

A former pub boss has been jailed for nearly three years for a vicious attack on his former partner which left her with a fractured finger and perforated eardrum.
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Jack Taylor, 29, former manager at the Star Inn in Whitby's Haggersgate, punched and choked the young woman and twisted her wrist so violently she broke her hand, York Crown Court heard.

The drunken attack took place about a month after they had split up, in the flat above the pub where Taylor was living at the time, said prosecutor Elizabeth Muir.

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Taylor was jealous that the victim was seeing another a man and his anger spilled out in explosive fashion after he bumped into her while she was on a night out with two friends in Whitby.

Jack Taylor.Jack Taylor.
Jack Taylor.

The victim and one of her friends ended up at the home of another friend in the town where Taylor happened to be.

Ms Muir said “problems” arose at the house between Taylor and the victim who started “pushing and shoving” each other.

“They then seemed to patch things up and went back to the Star Inn,” she added.

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It was in Taylor’s flat above the pub where violence flared in the early hours of August 29, 2020.

“There was an argument as a result of (Taylor) being angry and jealous because he believed she was contacting the man she was seeing on her mobile phone,” said Ms Muir.

“He smashed up the phone and then attacked her.

"It was a very sustained attack, throwing her on the sofa, punching her in the head.”

The blow to the side of the head was struck with such force that the victim heard her ear “pop”.

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Taylor then grabbed her around the throat and was trying to “choke her out”, before putting her in a headlock, grabbing her wrist and twisting it with such force it broke one of her metacarpal bones.

The terrified victim and her friend tried to get away, but Taylor locked them in the flat.

They managed to get out through another door when he left the room momentarily and they went downstairs to the bar.

But Taylor followed them and as the victim tried to get out, he grabbed her from behind, pulling her by the hair and “ragging her about repeatedly”.

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She and her friend fled to a nearby house where her boyfriend was staying with his mate.

He was shocked to discover she was “covered in bumps and bruises” all over her arms and legs.

She also had a cut lip.

She went to Whitby Hospital the following day and then transferred to James Cook Hospital in Middlesbrough where tests showed she had a fractured hand and a large perforation to her

eardrum.

She also suffered swelling to her head and “awful” bruising.

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The mother-of-one didn’t report the attack initially because Taylor had threatened to make scurrilous accusations about her to the authorities which were patently untrue.

She finally reported him to police in September 2020 after he continued to message her.

Taylor handed himself in and was charged with causing grievous bodily harm and criminal damage.

He admitted damaging her phone but initially denied the attack, even claiming the victim was the main aggressor and that he had acted in self-defence.

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He ultimately admitted GBH on the day of his trial, but on a basis that was rejected by the court.

He appeared for sentence via video link on Thursday (Jan 21).

The court heard that Taylor - lately of Elder Grove, Newcastle - had received two cautions in the past for battery, including an attack on another former partner.

At the time of the incident in Whitby, he was on a community order for a drink-related driving offence.

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The victim, who was named in court, said the attack had left her unable to “trust anyone again”.

She had even moved house for her own safety which had cost her “emotionally” and financially.

She added: “When (Taylor) was assaulting me I didn’t think he was going to stop.

"I was extremely scared (and) I believed he was going to kill me.”

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Her injuries had still not healed, and she now faced surgery to repair the hole in her ear which will result in a scar and more time off work.

Ismael Uddin, for Taylor, said the former pub manager was “extremely remorseful” for the attack and had been receiving treatment for anger management and alcohol issues while on remand.

Judge Sean Morris said Taylor had “traumatised” his former partner in a fit of jealousy.

Taylor was jailed for two years and eight months and given a five-year restraining order banning from contacting the victim, the two female witnesses and the victim’s boyfriend.

He is also banned from going to their addresses or workplaces.