Yahoo News Morpeth thug left former partner with broken hand and bloodied nose while giving her a lift
A woman was left with a broken hand and bloodied nose when her ex partner attacked her while giving her a lift.
The woman had been in a relationship with Bram Storey for around five years but they split up in 2021. However they remained friends and on November 20 that year she went to his home in Morpeth to drop off a birthday card and present.
He was not in but she got in using a key, which he had allowed her to keep to help tend to his pets. He returned a short time later and offered to give her a lift to Newcastle, where she was due to meet friends for a meal.
All was well for the first 15 minutes of the journey but when they stopped at a level crossing and waited for a train to pass, he asked where she was really going. She then got a call from a male friend, which she didn't answer and Storey questioned her about that.
He asked her to unlock her phone for him to look at it and snatched it from her and refused to give it back. He continued to drive towards Newcastle but on the outskirts he pulled into a commercial estate and locked the car doors, which made her fearful.
Newcastle Crown Court heard Storey, 32, of Grange Road, Morpeth, shouted at her about her phone and the fact she wanted to socialise with other people but not him. She told him his attitude needed to change if they were to get on.
He then suddenly assaulted her. Michael Bunch, prosecuting, said: "He used the back of his hand to strike her repeatedly to the head, causing her nose to bleed.
"She tried to protect her face with her hand. There was a further blow which caused immediate pain and loss of sensation to her fingers. He struck her two further times to the face and right arm."
After the attack came to an end, she asked him to take her to a nearby McDonald's to clean herself up but he refused and began driving back towards Morpeth, threatening to leave her in the middle of nowhere and to drive to Scotland and bury her.
When they arrived outside his house, she climbed out of the car window to try to get away but he chased her and dragged her into his home, where he continued to be aggressive and refused to let her clean herself up.
Her male friend called and Storey answered, ranting at him. Then, when her mother called, he stamped on the phone, rendering it unusable.
He let the woman leave and she was left with a fractured bone in her hand, a laceration to her nose and bruising to her eye, bicep and hand.
In a victim impact statement which she read to the court, she said she has been left living in fear and said the effects will stay with her forever. She added: "I fear for any other females who begin a relationship with Bram. I'm concerned about their welfare.
"He is unpredictable and I hope any impending prosecutions are disclosed with Clare's Law for all to see. He tried to make me out as a violent person to give a false impression of me to the police to protect his reputation."
Storey told police he assaulted her because she grabbed the steering wheel on the A1 and claimed he was trying to avoid a crash. But he ended up leading guilty to assault and criminal damage.
He also admitted criminal damage to a neighbour's car in April 2023. She heard someone shouting in the street and saw Storey by her car.
He threatened to damage her car and rape her and she saw him climb onto the car and jump up and down on the bonnet, causing £2,000 of damage. He pleaded guilty to criminal damage in relation to that offence.
Storey was jailed for 12 months and given a restraining order in relation to his ex partner.
David Robinson-Young, defending, said he has been working as a mechanic and is now in a steady relationship.
