Judge asks if 'coward and bully' has shown his partner the horrific injuries he caused his ex

Police custody picture of Oliver Torkington
-Credit: (Image: Dyfed-Powys Police)


A man launched a "brutal, sustained and merciless attack" on his partner after becoming jealous that she had spoken to a doorman during a night out, a court has heard. Oliver Torkington punched, strangled, and stamped on the woman and "thrashed her savagely" with a thin piece of metal.

Swansea Crown Court heard the defendant claimed he had been acting in self-defence when he launched the assault, claims the judge said were "almost laughable". Sending him to prison, the judge said the attack had been born from his paranoid jealousy, and told him: "Your maturity and insecurity would be pathetic in an adolescent boy never mind a man approaching 40".

Torkington's barrister said her client had recently been volunteering with a rugby club in the Bala area and that on his release from prison wants to move to north Wales. She said her client now had a new partner who was supportive of him, and the judge asked if the new girlfriend had seen the photographs of the injuries the defendant had inflicted during the assault. The barrister said she could not comment but suspected not.

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Oliver Torkington, of Pembroke Road, Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, had previously been convicted at trial of assault occasioning actual bodily harm (ABH) and strangulation when he returned to the dock for sentencing. During the trial the court heard the assault happened in Torkington's flat in St Clears near Carmarthen after he and his then-girlfriend returned from a night out.

The defendant was said to be jealous because his partner had spoken to a doorman during the course of the evening, and was also said to be jealous because she had dated other people during a period when they had split up. During the assault the 39-year-old punched and stamped on his partner, throttled her, and used a thin piece of metal to repeatedly whip her. The victim suffered a broken finger in the attack, and the court heard that she still hears ringing in her ear from where Torkington stamped on her. The court heard that the defendant also took his partner’s phone during the assault meaning she was unable to call for help.

Prosecution barrister Jon Tarrant said the defendant has 16 previous convictions for 24 offences including four ABHs, four assaults on police, and five assaults by beating. Two of the ABHs had involved Torkington attacking people after being refused entry to or being ejected from pubs in Narberth and in Swansea city centre.

Harriet Ealden, for Torkington, said at the time of the offence her client was facing the loss of his job, home and car, and was in a "poor place". She said the defendant had been an "on-off" user of cocaine for 20 years and a binge drinker, and said alcohol had been the "thread" which ran through his offending. She said the defendant was now taking steps to address the issue, had been sober for six months, and had put himself through "mindfulness classes".

Judge Thomas said Torkington had carried out a "brutal, sustained and merciless attack" on his partner after a night out which included "thrashing her savagely and repeatedly" with a thin piece of metal. He said the assault had been born from the defendant's paranoid jealousy, and he told him: "Your maturity and insecurity would be pathetic in an adolescent boy never mind a man approaching 40". The judge said the defendant was a "coward and bully" who thought he could con a jury into believing he had been acting in self-defence, and said the reality was Torkington did not have the guts to admit what he had done to his ex. He called the defendant's claims to be acting in self-defence "almost laughable" had the offence not been so serious.

Torkington was sentenced to two years and nine months in prison comprising two years and nine months for the ABH and 20 months for strangulation to run concurrently. He was also made the subject of a five-year restraining order banning him from contacting his victim. Torkington will serve up to half the sentence in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community. Sending the defendant down, the judge added: "I wonder how you would feel in the future if a man treated your daughter in the way you treated your victim."

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