Killer back behind bars after punching his pregnant ex-partner

Liverpool Crown Court heard that thug Luke Woods, now 23, “acted like an animal” in the attack on his victim, who was 30 weeks pregnant with his unborn child at the time.

The attack knocked her to the ground and left her with a laceration to her face for which she will require plastic surgery.

In August 2017, Woods had been sentenced to four years and four months in a young offenders’ institute for manslaughter after a single-punch attack which had caused the death of poet and actor Len Saunders.

READ MORE > Drunken yob admitted manslaughter of much-loved poet Len Saunders

Len Saunders died after being punched by Woods in 2017 (Image: Merseyside Police)

During the sentencing hearing today, Friday, January 27, Woods was described as someone “unable to control his emotions” who behaves “impulsively” as he was jailed for the attack on his former partner.

Prosecuting, Jonathan Rogers, told the court that Woods, who appeared via video link from custody, pleaded guilty to ABH on January 6 over the attack on his former partner.

“The assault had taken place a month earlier on December 6 last year,” he said.

“The victim doesn’t support the prosecution and had refused to provide a statement, there is no application for a restraining order.”

Mr Rogers told the court that the victim had gone to “visit her sister” on December 6 as it was “her sister’s birthday”.  

“During the visit she received a message and a call from defendant, her ex” and said there “had been an argument over the phone”.

Liverpool Crown Court

Mr Rogers added that the victim went to “meet the defendant” near to Fosters Park.

“The defendant hit her to the face and knocked her to the ground” and by the time she got back to her feet “the defendant had gone”.

Mr Rogers said the victim “returned to her sister’s house and told her what had happened” and was “taken to hospital”. She had suffered a “two-centimetre laceration” to the face and “there were concerns about her unborn baby” and she “will be left with a scar”.

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The court heard about Woods’ previous convictions for violence, which included the 52-month sentence he received for the manslaughter of Len Saunders in 2017, and a further three months for common assault.

Defending, Louise McCloskey, said Woods had “accepted responsibility” for the attack in a “handwritten letter”.

She said the letter stated: “’I’m not asking for mercy, I know what I have done bit I’m trying to do better’”.

Ms McCloskey asked the court “to understand the prospect of him becoming a father”, with the baby due on February 13, and said he is “willing to engage and change”.  

Sentencing Woods, of Billinge Crescent, Blackbrook, to two years, judge David Aubrey KC said that in Woods’ letter to the court he described himself as “acting like an animal’”.

The judge added: “That, in the judgement of this court, is an apt description” and said his assault was “on a vulnerable person”. he added Woods’ “previous convictions for offences of violence” and that the offence was “committed in a domestic context” were “aggravating features”.

He also pointed out Woods “did not plead guilty at the first opportunity” in the magistrates’ court but in a plea hearing at the Crown Court, reducing his sentence by 25 per cent for the plea, which would have been 33 months if there had been a trial.

The judge said to Woods “you are realising you must do something about” the issues he has, which see him “acting without thinking of the consequences”.