'Unpleasant and dangerous' Edwinstowe man battered partner and abused cop

Gareth Wood's partner called 999 in the early hours of November 7, from her home on Turner Lane, Boughton, after he grabbed her by the throat, shoved her up against a wall and punched her in the face.

She was left with a balck eye and marks on her neck but didn’t support the prosecution or request a restraining order, prosecutor Annelli Pritchard told the court.

As he was being taken to Mansfield police station Wood began banging his head on the van cage and had to handcuffed and put in leg restraints.

Wood, aged 30, called one officer 'all the foreign names he could think of' and told him: "You're not getting me done for racism as well."

The officer was left feeling 'demoralised,' and said: "This is now becoming a regular occurrence and it isn't right. I don't come to work to be racially abused."

The court heard Wood has 20 previous convictions for 42 offences, including ten serious assaults, possession of offensive weapons, and two assaults against the same victim.

He was last in trouble in September 2022 when he was fined for public order offences.

Chris Perry, mitigating, said Wood was on a five-week suspended sentence at the time, which he served when he spent a month on remand, and has also been fitted with a tag.

He said Wood was 'tearful’ when shown pictures of the injuries he'd caused and 'has keenly felt the consequences of what he has done'.

"He is a thoroughly unpleasant and dangerous individual when he is drunk," Mr Perry said. "He has been abstinent since. He wants to demonstrate his remorse.

"I know this passes the custody threshold and has a starting point of 36 weeks in custody. He is trying to demonstrate he is capable of change."

Wood, of Merryweather Close, Edwinstowe, admitted racially-aggravated harassment and occasioning actual bodily harm, on December 30.

On Wednesday district judge Leo Pyle told him his record aggravated the offences.

He jailed Wood for nine months and one week, minus the time he has already spent on remand, and ordered him to pay £200 compensation.