Leeds Crown Court: Cocaine-fuelled bully strangled his girlfriend and pulled clumps out her hair

Wakefield thug Jack Duree constantly accused his now-ex partner of cheating. The 26-year-old gaslighted and belittled her, pulled clumps out of her hair and drained her money to buy crack cocaine.

Leeds Crown Court heard the pair started a relationship at the beginning of this year and it was initially good, before it began to deteriorate.

On February 12, the pair were in bed in the early hours of the morning when the victim received a friend request on Facebook. Duree became jealous and verbally abused her, calling her nasty names.

When his partner went to leave, Duree snatched her iPhone. She got a second phone out and threatened to phone the police, before the defendant smashed both phones against the wall and door. The victim went to the window to shout for help, before Duree dragged her by the hair into the bedroom.

On February 27, the pair went out to buy a replacement phone. That night, Duree accused the victim of spending too much time on the new phone and became “annoyed and jealous”. In the morning, the victim was woken up by Duree demanding to see her phone - which he had purposefully hidden under a pillow.

When his partner told him to leave, he grabbed her by the throat and squeezed it so hard that she couldn’t breathe. Prosecuting, Phillip Standfast said: “It was about a second, but to [the victim] it seemed like a lifetime because of how hard he was squeezing.”

He then threatened to hit her. Later that day, he threatened to smash her phone again and became abusive. After the victim banged on the wall to alert a neighbour, Duree shot out of bed and left his partner’s house, but later returned to demand to get his dog and belongings.

The victim was too scared to let him in and he attempted to climb through a bathroom window. He grabbed his girlfriend’s hair through the window and pulled out clumps of it.

She shouted for help and a neighbour called the police. When police arrived, Duree denied the offences and tried to blame his partner, but admitted being under the influence of cocaine. He pleaded guilty to controlling and coercive behaviour and intentional strangulation, but not until the day a trial was due to begin.

Duree, of Lindsay Avenue, Lupset, has a number of previous convictions - including two offences of battery against a former partner.

Very little mitigation was given by Duree’s defence barrister Allan Armbrister, as Duree continued to blame the victim when speaking to probation workers ahead of his sentence. Mr Armbrister asked the judge to consider the defendant’s age and “immaturity”.

Passing his sentencing remarks, Judge Robin Mairs said: “You set about eroding her self confidence and her self esteem. You made her feel that what had been done to her was her fault.

“This was an abuse of power that you exerted, or attempted to exert, over her. You clearly are a coward and a bully who takes his mediocracy out on his partners, as you did on this occasion.”

Duree was jailed for two years. He was also handed a 10-year restraining order preventing him from contacting the victim.