Sickening injuries of brave woman who raced to stop thug stamping on his girlfriend’s head only for him to put her in a headlock and slam shattered mug in her face
Karl Gates turned on innocent Faye Sharpe, 24, when she stepped in to defend her friend Jodie Morley from a violent assault after an evening boozing
A BRAVE mum suffered devastating facial injuries when a thug smashed her in the face with a broken mug as she she tried to stop him stamping on his girlfriend's head.
Karl Gates turned on innocent Faye Sharpe, 24, when she stepped in to defend her friend Jodie Morley from a violent assault after an evening boozing.
He grabbed hold of Faye in a headlock and hit her repeatedly in the face with the jagged edge of a shattered mug.
The mum-of-one needed more than 23 stitches and is now permanently scarred.
Gates, 26, had earlier taken Faye's VW Beetle and crashed it in a bush for a "joke" shortly before attacking both women at the flat he shared with Jodie in Emsworth, Hants.
Afterwards he claimed "he knew someone who would kill the girls" if they told anyone what happened, a court heard.
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Faye wept in the public gallery as Gates was jailed for six years and five months after he admitted wounding with intent, assault occasioning actual bodily harm and taking a vehicle without consent.
She said in a victim impact statement: "At the time of the assault I thought I was going to die.
"I didn't think Karl was ever going to stop hitting me. Thinking about the assault I do feel worse than ever, I can't sleep, I have nightmares."
Judge Linda Sullivan QC said Faye had suffered "significant" psychological harm as well as the physical scars to her face.
She said: "Every time she looks in the mirror she is reminded of it and has nightmares about it."
The judge told Gates as she jailed him at Portsmouth crown court: "When she (Miss Sharpe) came back she heard screams and shouts and went upstairs to find you with your partner on the bed and you were stamping on her head.
"Miss Sharpe, in order to help her friend from being further injured, intervened whereupon you put her in a headlock and obtained a mug, which presumably must have been broken, and then repeatedly smashed Miss Sharpe's face.
"When one sees the photographs there are a large number of cuts."
Gates, who has 22 convictions for 35 offences, fled the scene in the early hours of February 12, sparking a police appeal, but was nabbed three days later.
He told a probation officer he acted in self-defence, but the judge rejected this.
Detective Constable Lucia Davies said after the hearing: "This was a particularly horrific assault against two young women.
"I would like to take this opportunity to thank members of the community who provided us with information as to Gates' whereabouts and also to the victims and their family for the courage that they have shown since this assault.
"I hope today's sentence and Gates' admission of guilt provides the victims with some comfort and that it will help to put the incident behind them."
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