A serial abuser who carried out 'frenzied attacks' in Norfolk jailed

A man who carried out violent attacks on partners has been sentenced to 28 months in prison at Norwich Crown Court.

Joshua Terry
Author: Abi SimpsonPublished 25th Nov 2020

Joshua Terry, who's 26, admitted to assault occasioning ABH, possession of a bladed article, common assault, witness intimidation, disclosure of private photographs, and using threatening words.

An additional offence of perverting the course of justice was ordered to lie on file.

Norfolk Police say they were initially called on Sunday 23rd February by the father of his first victim, his girlfriend at the time, to says she had been taken to hospital with injuries after Terry, now care of HMP Bedford, had assaulted her.

She was left with a fractured cheek which was so bad she needed surgery to prevent her going blind in one eye.

Officers say the assault was carried out at an address in Thetford where the two were living together.

They had been in a relationship for four months at the time of the assault - he was arrested four days later and charged with ABH.

In a further incident on Sunday 21st June, Terry turned up to the victim's sister's house following an argument over him posting comments on Facebook.

Parking a car outside at around 9pm, he began shouting at the victim's sister.

In the mean time she spotted the victim in his car, who was crying and 'paralysed' with fear and managed to get to her and lead her sister into her house.

Terry then picked up a 'large' machete from behind the car seat before fleeing the scene when other family members turned up.

Prior to this, Terry had previously been arrested after an assault on another ex-partner.

The two had been in a relationship for eight months when on Monday 7th October 2019 they were drinking at a friend's home in Norwich and he became verbally abusive - grabbing her by the throat so hard she could not breath.

When she freed herself and went into the kitchen, he grabbed her wrists and hair before friends intervened and pulled him off her.

A few days after the incident, on Thursday 10th October when Terry’s friend was visiting the victim, the defendant turned up and knocked on the window shouting verbal abuse at the victim.

Terry then tried to kick her front door in and the victim hid in a downstairs bathroom and called the police. Terry also shared private photographs of the victim to a Whatsapp group between 17 October 2019 and 6 November 2019

DC Mark Tate said: "The dogged and thorough work carried out by officers has helped to put Terry behind bars for vicious assaults on his former partners.

Domestic abuse cases can be very difficult to bring to court. This is partly because victims can be extremely vulnerable, as a result, they can withdraw statements and fear reprisals if they complain to police.

"In this case, footage of the victim’s account at the scene, the victim’s injuries and CCTV footage as well as the clothing items collected and detailed investigation have helped to secure this conviction.

"Domestic abuse will not be tolerated, we want that message to reach anyone else who is a victim of this kind of assault in Norfolk."