'If I hadn't left him I would have been dead' says woman who feared for her life at the hands of violent construction boss

Glenn O'Connell
-Credit: (Image: Reach Publishing Services Limited)


A dad-of-two pinned his partner on a couch and held a knife to her head after a drunk row over who had paid the bill on a night out.

Glenn O'Connell, 59, also pushed his partner down the stairs and stepped over her as she lay on the floor in a separate attack, a court heard.

The woman, who had been in an 18-month relationship with the thug, said: "If I hadn't left him I would have ended up dead." She said she had been a vibrant woman with a large group of friends but since her relationship with O'Connell her confidence is at rock bottom.

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O'Connell spent five months on remand following the second attack on his partner. He has now been handed a 20-month suspended sentence and ordered to address his issues with the Probation Service.

Preston Crown Court heard that on February 9, 2024, the couple had been out for a friendly evening with friends. However when they returned home a drink-fuelled row broke out and O'Connell pinned his partner to the sofa.

He squeezed her neck so hard she struggled to breathe. He then took a knife and held it to her forehead, threatening to kill her.

The woman suffered a black eye and a cut to her forehead in the attack. She said: "He said he was going to kill me and I believed him."

She did not report the attack but on March 1 he attacked her again, after a night out with his teenage daughters. O'Connell threatened to hurt the woman's dog, and when she ran upstairs after her pet, he pushed her down the stairs.

The woman fell down five stairs, hitting her head as she fell. She then stumbled and fell down another five stairs, landing on the floor.

O'Connell stepped over his partner and spoke to his daughter, suggesting she left the house and went home. The woman booked herself into a hotel, suffering pain to her shoulder. The following day, she saw a nurse - fearing it was fractured, but her injuries were confirmed to be muscular and bruising.

O'Connell, who runs a construction business, nodded his head in the dock as Recorder David Temkin KC said: "This was an extremely serious attack that must have terrified her."

The court heard O'Connell has a number of previous convictions for violence, including GBH for a road rage incident in which he headbutted his victim, who needed hospital treatment, and a common assault on a schoolgirl he believed was bullying his daughter..

"There is a clear pattern of violent offending in your past", Recorder Temkin KC said. "I note you have never been to custody before."

He said the offences against his partner were aggravated by the fact they were committed in the context of a romantic relationship which "violates the trust and security that normally exists."

However he accepted the defendant has a strong work history and read letters from his daughters who said they needed their dad to be a role model. O'Connell also suffered ill health while on remand.

"Your shock at the contents of your partner's victim personal statement also speak of a chance of being rehabilitated", he added.

He sentenced O'Connell to 20 momths with 25 days of rehabilitation activities, a 26 day Building Choices program and 100 hours of unpaid work. He also made a restraining order banning the defendant from contacting his victim by any means.

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