Thug jailed for headbutt attack during string of assaults

A MAN has been jailed for nearly six months for a serious of violent assaults on three men and a woman in New Milton.

Lee Turner (31), of Woodside Road, Bournemouth, attacked Robert Chapman, Keith Cook, Andrew Phillips and Kelly Cook between June 2018 and March this year.

Southampton magistrates heard at least one of the incidents involved a victim being headbutted.

The Bench had previously found Turner guilty of assaulting Mr Chapman by beating after he denied the charge.

He pleaded guilty to charges of assaulting Mr Cook and Ms Cook by beating and assaulting Mr Phillips.

In addition to the attacks, Turner pleaded guilty to a charge of criminal damage relating to a front door and an internal bathroom door belonging to Ms Cook.

He also admitted breaching a three-year conditional discharge imposed at Dorset Magistrates’ Court in October 2015 for a previous offence of assault by beating, and being arrested in March this year as someone unlikely to surrender to custody after being bailed the previous month.

Noting a catalogue of serious offending, including the headbutting and the denial, the Bench sentenced Turner to a total of 24 weeks behind bars.

The term comprised eight weeks each for the attacks on Mr Chapman and Ms Cook and four-week terms for those on Mr Cook and Mr Phillips.

Turner was ordered to pay £100 compensation to each of the assault victims, and he was handed a two-year restraining order banning him from contacting Ms Cook or entering a street in New Milton. He was also told to pay £100 court costs.

No separate penalty was made for the criminal damage or failure to surrender to bail charges, and no action was taken on the discharge breach.