AN EX-PARTNER wrote a letter to a judge in support of a Wrexham taxi driver who attacked and tried to strangle her before dumping her covered in blood outside a relative’s home.
Roy Wood, of Maes y Nant, Penycae, was jailed for two years after he admitted inflicting grievous bodily harm on Leah Corbett in February.
At the time Wood, 23, was on bail with an instruction not to contact her following an earlier attack on her.
Mold Crown Court heard the victim lost consciousness and her next memory was waking up in hospital. She needed surgery and a metal plate had to be inserted in her jaw, which was fractured.
Miss Corbett had been left with blurred vision and facial scarring – but still wrote a letter in his support to Judge Niclas Parry.
She told police she was lucky to be alive but still had feelings for him.
But Judge Parry said it was a case where a complainant clearly needed to be protected from herself.
The judge told Wood: “We will never know exactly what happened in your car that evening but it must have involved an extremely high level of violence.
“The fact that you caused those fractures within four weeks of being granted bail for another offence of violence against her is a serious aggravating feature.”
Judge Parry said he had read the complainant’s present views but said: “There are times that the court must take the view that victims must be protected from themselves. This is one such case."
The judge reminded Wood a restraining order not to approach her or the area where she lived, imposed by magistrates following a previous assault, was still in place.
Elizabeth Bell said the couple had been in a two-and-a-half year relationship and in May there was an argument which led to Wood assaulting her. In August he was jailed for a year by Wrexham magistrates.
The second incident occurred on June 25, in breach of bail conditions, when in the early hours Miss Corbett rang Wood and asked him for a lift in his taxi.
As they drove he made allegations about her, started to strangle her and she blacked out. Her next memory was waking up in hospital the next morning.
At about 2am her brother had heard a noise outside the door, went to investigate and found her with severe injuries and covered in blood.
In hospital she was found to have a bruised and swollen face, she could not open her left eye, there was blood in her right ear and she had a fractured jaw which needed surgery.
Arrested and interviewed, Wood said he had picked her up in his taxi when she was already covered in blood but forensic evidence showed her blood on his boots and the extensive distribution of blood was consistent with an attack inside the taxi.
Defending, David Potter said Wood had lost his badge as a licensed taxi driver and knew he would probably never work as a taxi driver again. He appreciated the relationship was over.