A brutal thug who inflicted these horrific injuries on his girlfriend because he couldn’t get any money out of a CASH MACHINE has walked free from court.
Toby Hayden, 27, flew into a rage after being told he had insufficient funds and repeatedly battered pretty Loretta Butterworth, 22, in the face.
The brutal assault only ended when a mother and daughter heard Loretta screaming “please help me” as Hayden held her with one hand and hit her with the other.
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When police arrived to arrest him he spat in the face of one police officer and tried to gouge the eyes of another.
But despite being on a suspended sentence for a previous violent offence, he escaped a jail sentence after magistrates heard he would return from jail “full of problems”.
They sentenced Hayden to an 18-month community order with 200 hours of unpaid work and ordered him to complete an anger management course.
After the hearing Loretta slammed the sentence and described how her face “exploded like an airbag” during the assault.
She said: “When I found out that he had walked free my heart sank. I was shocked and angry.
“He definitely should have gone to prison. He had previous convictions, he had been violent to people before, he was on probation when it happened.
“He resisted arrest, assaulted two police officers, caused criminal damage and that doesn’t even cover what he did to me.
“He punched me repeatedly, he didn’t stop – but that wasn’t enough for him so he kicked me in the back of the head as I lay on the floor unable to defend myself.
“He then stamped on my face before walking home to his parents. There was no remorse, there was no concern.”
The attack happened in Chippenham, Wilts., as the couple walked home from a day out in Bath, Somerset, on February 9.
Hayden had guzzled several shots of tequila, at least eight pints and three cans of lager during the evening.
Loretta said: “He went to the cashpoint and tried to press the #10 or #20 button but it said insufficient funds, he made a growling noise and started to walk off.
“I went with him to convince him to come home but the next thing I knew and without any warning he had pinned up against a wall.
“He raised his arm and punched me in the face. It all happened so fast I didn’t have time to defend myself. It felt like my face exploded, like an air bag had gone off.
“I fell to the floor and he kicked me and stamped on my face. I was knocked unconscious.
“When I came around I couldn’t see out of my eyes as my face had swollen up so much.
I looked like a zombie.”
Loretta needed treatment at the Royal United Hospital in Bath after the attack and could not open her right eye for weeks.
Chippenham Magistrates Court was told that after Hayden was shown injuries he inflicted on Loretta, he said: “I didn’t know I was that much of an animal”.
Pauline Lambert, prosecuting, said the couple had been in a relationship for two years and started living together in Christian Malford, Wilts., in October.
She said Hayden began beating Loretta by pushing her against the wall and hitting her with full force on the nose.
Moses Tawo, defending Hayden, said his client had lost his job as a highways maintenance worker after being charged and is now unemployed.
He said: “There has been genuine remorse. His way of explanation is his alcohol abuse. It isn’t domestic violence, it is a random assault.
“He would come back from prison full of problems and there would be a vicious circle. Mr Hayden is a very sick man medically and psychologically and he needs help.”
Hayden, who pleaded guilty to three charges of assault, was banned from contacting Loretta for two years and ordered him to pay her #750 compensation.
He was also told to pay #250 in compensation to PC Andrew Aves from Wiltshire Police and #100 to PC Joel Bunting, who he attacked when they arrived to arrest him at home.
Bizarrely, magistrates claimed that sparing him a jail sentence was the tougher option.
Sentencing, Ms D Slater, chairwoman of the magistrates, said: “We are going to take the hard line by not activating the suspension order.
“Horfield [Bristol prison] would be the easy option, you could get this over with in four weeks.
“But this way you’re going to spend the next year and a half addressing your behaviour.
“The suspended sentence will continue. If you breach it again, the next breach is undoubtedly going to activate that suspension order.”
Shop worker Loretta, who now lives with her mother in Corsham, Wilts., said she had planned to have children with Hayden but now never wanted to see him again.
She said: “I can’t put into words what I think of him. He is scum, he has hit a new low. I never thought he could stoop so low as to hurt someone he loved.
“I think the case should have gone to Crown Court because of his past. I had no idea that magistrates are three people who aren’t legally trained.
“At least if it had gone to Crown Court he would have been before a properly educated judge and the full story would have come out.
“I work near him and it worries me that I might bump into him. I really, really don’t want to see him.”
these judges and magistrates are a disgrace,but they will jail pensioners for not paying t.v. licenses and council tax,this clown is due a beating and with his photo printed it may just happen
What can be done about this , the man should go to prison . This calls for action against the magistrate who let this man walk free . This is disgraceful , the magistrate should be suspended till proven guilty of neglect to a fellow member of our clearly unprotected public .
let me know what action can be taken because I’d like to help , because this is shockingly disgraceful .
This magistrate should be imprisoned for failure in job . I believe a campaign needs to start immediately .
he should be castrated not jailed
I have always upheld that the law in this country is an ASS and this proves it. CriminalHaven
Absolute disgrace, what planet are these judges on? this judge should be struck off and the case reheard/appealed.
Utter disgrace!
What a state this country is in, is it forgotten what we do with sick animal’s? we shoot them.
Or are we waiting until he kill’s!
this maniac should be prison for a lengthy while like 5yrs .
words fail me. is this really how people behave when they are drunk or been drinking? I love a drink but does it make me carry out acts like this NO. This man needs to be locked up along with all the scum that walk our streets. If there’s no room in prison for them start to shoot the rapists and deport the rest who should not even be here.
Might as we’ll give up, the higher the profile of persons in authority the more Out of touch they get.