Man attacked girlfriend weeks after being spared prison for assaulting homeless man

A violent man brandished a knife at his girlfriend before punching her in the ribs – just two weeks after he was given a six-month suspended prison sentence for taking part in an attack on a homeless alcoholic after a confrontation in a Rugby churchyard



A judge has conceded he ‘did the wrong thing’ by giving a chance to Christopher Griffiths, who had been given the suspended sentence for his part in the attack with his twin brother, and ordered to do 150 hours of unpaid work.

But he failed to turn up even for his induction session for the unpaid work – and committed the new offence within two weeks of the judge taking a chance with him.

Griffiths, 33, previously of Harry Park Road, Wyken, Coventry, but who was living in Rugby at the time, pleaded guilty to common assault, breaching his suspended sentence and failing to surrender to bail.

Back in front of the same judge at Warwick Crown Court, he was jailed for five months – consecutive to the six-month suspended sentence which he was also ordered to serve.

Jailing Griffiths, Judge Andrew Lockhart QC told him: “I did the wrong thing. Judges sometimes do. They give people a chance and give them the benefit of the doubt.

“I made an error of judgement, it seems, in your case. You had your chance, and you didn’t take it.

“I gave you six months imprisonment suspended for 18 months. I warned you what would happen if you came back before me – and it’s going to happen.”