A man who strangled his partner and set fire to a dog has been jailed for his “inexcusable” crimes.
Paul Williamson, aged 53, also set fire to their living room carpet during a drunken rage that lasted hours on 5 January this year.
Thankfully the dog – a female German Shepherd – escaped serious injury after Williamson used a towel to extinguish the flames along her back within seconds. He also put out the carpet fire before it could spread.
The impact on his partner, however, was profound and she has since separated from him.
Nottingham Crown Court heard Williamson had developed a drinking problem that made his behaviour worse.
On the day in question, he woke up on a sofa in the middle of the afternoon and smashed his partner’s phone after making unfounded accusations.
He then poured white spirit on the carpet and set a small patch on fire, adding “I’ll burn the house down”.
In the hours that followed, the court heard he twice strangled her, set fire to her dog, grabbed her by the hair, struck her with a walking stick and used a dog lead in an attempt to strangle her a third time.
The violent episode ended when he sent her out to buy him cigarettes, giving the victim an opportunity to ring Nottinghamshire Police.
Officers immediately attended the Rainworth address and arrested Williamson.
Williamson answered ‘no comment’ to all questions put to him during a police interview but went on to plead guilty to arson with intent to endanger life, two counts of intentional strangulation, attempted intentional strangulation, causing unnecessary suffering to a dog, two counts of assault by beating and criminal damage.
At his sentencing hearing on Wednesday (18 June), Williamson, of Coopers Rise, Rainworth, was jailed for four years followed by an extended licence period of two years. He was also handed an indefinite restraining order.
Passing sentence, Judge Stuart Rafferty KC said:
“In a few hours on a single night, you wreaked havoc on a person with whom you were in a supposedly caring relationship.
“On this night, you were just about as obnoxious to a person as anyone could possibly be. You threatened to burn the house down and poured inflammable liquid about, firstly on the carpet and secondly on a dog who was completely blameless in all this.
“You started a fire that could have got out of control in a second.
“Events then took an even more sinister turn. You followed her into the kitchen, you pushed her to the floor, you got on top of her and placed both hands around her neck. You then strangled her to the point she became unconscious.
“Strangulation is a very dangerous thing to do. It takes seconds to kill someone. It takes seconds to cause them brain damage because the oxygen or blood supply is cut off.
“You did not give a fig about that in your drunken rage and you didn’t let it stop there. You told her she had to clean up the mess you had made and when she was slow to do your bidding you assaulted her twice and hit her with a walking stick.
“You then strangled her again, this time with more force. You later attempted to strangle her with a dog lead and it was only because she got her fingers between the lead and her neck that you did not kill her.
“As a final insult, you told her to buy cigarettes and not come back. She had done nothing to deserve any of this as you now recognise.”
Following the sentencing, Detective Constable David Passmore, of Nottinghamshire Police’s Public Protection unit, said:
“This is a truly disturbing case that saw Williamson repeatedly attack his victim and set fire to her dog.
“I wish to thank the victim for her courage in reporting this to police. I truly hope that now Williamson is behind bars for his inexcusable crimes, she is able to move forward and recover from the abuse she has suffered.
“We absolutely do not tolerate domestic abuse in Nottinghamshire and would urge anyone who is suffering abuse, or anyone who has concerns that a friend or loved one may be in danger, to contact police. Our officers and a range of support agencies are here to help, you are not alone.”
