Wigan man 'not capable of loving relationships' jailed for attacks on his girlfriend and her mum

The pair took in Johnboy Price when he was kicked out of his own home and had nowhere to go.

But Bolton Crown Court heard he started slapping his girlfriend and the violence escalated, with him regularly attacking her in her home.

And when her mother asked if he had caused the bruises on her daughter, Price, now 20, assaulted her too.

Even after his “terrified” girlfriend, now 18, ran to a neighbour’s house to get help and police were called, he continued his violent behaviour.

He was yesterday sentenced to a total of five years and four months in prison after pleading guilty to two counts of controlling or coercive behaviour, three common assaults, inflicting grievous bodily harm and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

Price, of Beverley Road, Marsh Green, met his girlfriend online in February 2018.

He soon moved into the her home and everything went well at first.

But his behaviour changed in June 2018, when he became aggressive and started slapping her across the face.

Mark Monaghan, prosecuting, said: “She describes a pattern of assault, then the defendant saying he was sorry and leaving her alone for a couple of days while she was bruised, but then the behaviour would start again.

“She said she didn’t tell anyone what was happening because he said he would kill her and her family.”

At the beginning of 2020, her mother asked Price if he had assaulted her daughter. He responded by pushing and slapping her, the court heard.

He repeated his threats to kill the family and she felt “controlled” and “intimidated” by him.

In one incident, Price damaged his girlfriend's bed and removed the mattress so she could no longer sleep on it.

On March 4 last year, Price punched his girlfriend to the face, ribs and arms after she interrupted him in the bathroom.

He then dragged her upstairs, where he assaulted her mother too, and only stopped when both women apologised.

His girlfriend was so frightened that when Price and her mother went to Wigan one day, she went to a neighbour’s house to ask for help and police were called.

When his girlfriend later agreed to meet Price, he attacked her, stamping on her head, taking a running kick at her face and kicking her arms.

She went to Wigan Infirmary’s A&E unit for treatment to her injuries, which included a broken nose, broken hand and two missing teeth.

Price sent messages to his girlfriend, threatening to self-harm if she did not retract her statement.

Nicola Carroll, defending, said Price was still a child when he moved into the Robinsons’ home and he did DIY jobs in the property

He grew up in a “toxic environment” of domestic violence, where no early intervention measures were taken to help him, and it was possible he had undiagnosed ADHD, autism and an intellectual disability.

He had used drugs and alcohol since the age of 12 and had repeatedly tried to harm himself as a “coping mechanism”, she said.

The court heard Price had several past convictions, including common assaults on two ex-girlfriends in 2016 and restraining orders banning him from seeing them.

Sentencing, Recorder Abigail Hudson said there was “clear evidence” his behaviour was designed to “humiliate and debase” his girlfriend.

She said: “I am genuinely not unsympathetic. You are yourself in many ways a victim of the profound damage that was done to you during your childhood.

“I recognise that, as do your victims, and I hope that you get the help that you need, but the reality is that your childhood has created a dangerous man, a man who is not capable of loving relationships and not capable of existing without violence.”

She paid tribute to the women and said she hopes they “will make sure that no-one ever treats them” as Price did.

Price must serve an extended licence period after being released from custody and a restraining order bans him from contacting his girlfriend for five years.

A restraining order was not imposed for her mother as she wished to remain in contact with him.

After the hearing, his girlfriend's mother said: “I think he needs help more than anything else. Nobody has ever given it to him.”

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