Violent thug killed his girlfriend by hitting her so hard in the stomach she lost more than HALF the blood in her body
Internal bleeding led to 5.3 pints of blood leaking into Amy Gough's abdomen before she died from the savage attack
A violent thug killed his girlfriend by hitting her so hard in the stomach she lost more than half the blood in her body.
Some 5.3 pints of blood had leaked into Amy Gough's abdomen after the brutal assault, which caused blunt force trauma and triggered a heart attack.
Evil Andrew Maling attacked Gough, 34, at their Sandiacre, Derbyshire home before calling 999 and telling an operator she had turned "very, very pale."
Ms Gough was rushed to hospital but was unable to be saved.
Maling, now of Hull, denied manslaughter but was found guilty by a jury at Nottingham Crown Court.
Today the 48-year-old killer was jailed for 10 years for treating her 'like a punchbag'.
During the two-week trial, the court heard Maling had subjected Ms Gough to a catalogue of violence for years.
Judge Stuart Rafferty QC said: "So far what that has demonstrated is that as time had gone on, whether your drinking was lessening or not, the violence you were using towards her was increasing.
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"You undoubtedly, whether in drink or not, were experiencing periods of your relationship with her when for whatever reason you resorted to, putting it crudely, to treating her as a punchbag.
"You did not care as to how much violence you used against her. This was not the odd punch. This was sustained violence."
The court also heard a statement from Ms Gough's mum Christine Gough, who described her heartache at losing her daughter.
She said she couldn't leave her house for months and added: "All I wanted to do was hide under the duvet and not come out."
Mrs Gough said: "I felt I was the victim. Looking back I was. I still am.
"My life is never going to be the same. Not only has Amy gone, a big part of me has gone with Amy and will never come back."
Prosecutor Christopher Donnellan said paramedics were called to the couple's home at 10.30pm on March 29 last year.
Maling made the call, telling the 999 operator Ms Gough was "ice cold and semi-conscious" and "very, very pale and may have been sick".
Mr Donnellan said: "He said she had keeled over from a kneeling position by the toilet bowl, and it was quite obvious to paramedics that she needed to be taken to hospital. She was in a very poorly state.";
Tragically Ms Gough suffered a heart attack in an ambulance on the way to hospital and was pronounced dead at 10.54pm.
Mr Donnellan added: "She died as a consequence of what is called a blunt trauma injury. It was an injury to an area of the abdomen which caused internal damage to her transverse colon.
"The force used to inflict the damage was sufficient to cause that part of her internal structure to bleed, she bled internally.
"By the time of her death three litres of blood accumulated in her abdomen."
The court heard Maling had assaulted Ms Gough on a number of occasions over the years after they met in a pub in 2002.
On one occasion he left her with a head injury which was so severe surgeons had to drill a hole in her skull to relieve the pressure on her brain.
Mr Donnellan also told the court Maling had previously attacked Ms Gough with a rolling pin and left her needing hospital treatment for facial injuries in May 2003.
Maling admitted striking her several times over the years and behaving in a way that was "criminal and reprehensible".
But he denied causing Ms Gough's death - claiming he was drunk when he previously assaulted his girlfriend but was sober on the night she was fatally injured.
He said she had been drinking and fell down in the toilet at his mother's home before accusing him of being violent towards her.
He added: "She had an idea we had been arguing and fighting. She thought I had hit her. No, I had not. She was agitated. I was trying to calm the situation. There were raised voices, yes.
"She went downstairs, I helped her down to the kitchen. We sat at the table, smoking cigarettes, talking. here was a discussion over the drinking, the fall in the toilet."
Guy Rutty, who performed an autopsy, told the court Ms Gough's injuries were not the type suffered by alcoholics, drunks or by accidentally falling over.
When asked by his barrister Steven Greaney QC: "What kind of drunk are you?", Maling answered: "Terrible."