A HOOLIGAN who stamped on his girlfriend’s head as her child cowered nearby was described as a serious risk to women.

Ricky Wilding was sentenced to six years and eight months imprisonment for the sickening attack on the mum-of-two in July.

And Recorder Richard Shepherd told the 22-year-old he could expect to serve at least two-thirds of that time in custody as well as an extended two-year licence period, after finding him to be a dangerous offender.

He said: “It is clear that you are a bully. It is clear that you are controlling. And it is clear that you are a very violent man.”

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Pointing to the fact the defendant, who ran BarbeRicks mobile hairdresser in Swindon, had already fathered one child and had another on the way, Recorder Shepherd added: “It is pleaded on your behalf that you are a young man and it’s right to point out that you are 22-years-old.

“But you are not 17, you are not 18, you are not 19. You are 22. You are behaving like a man, you will be treated like a man.”

Prosecuting, James Tucker said Wilding had joined his then girlfriend, her son and sister as they walked home on Kennedy Drive, Eldene, on July 15.

He had demanded to see her phone, scrolling through messages. As they got to the house, his girlfriend had attempted to pull shut the door chain to prevent Wilding from getting inside.

Mr Tucker said: “He smashed the door in. Before she could close it he effectively ran at the door and kicked it, proceeding to beat her violently to the extent that she lost consciousness and doesn’t recall anything of the prolonged assault until she woke up in hospital.”

Wilding was said to have pulled his girlfriend’s sister’s hair, before beginning his assault on the mother of his child.

He grabbed her arm, threw her against the wall and dragged her by the hair. He repeatedly hit her head against a television stand before stamping on her face while she lay unconscious on the floor. Her jaw was broken in two places and he had partially broken one of the vertebrae in her neck.

Following the attack, Wilding texted her – calling her obscene names and claiming she had deserved it. He later attempted to flee to Derbyshire on his motorbike, pursued by police around Eldene and Coate in a chase that saw him mount the pavement and drive so dangerously that officers called off the pursuit for fear members of the public would be injured.

In a victim personal statement, his young female victim said the attack had left her unable to smile without it causing her pain. Her own children had not recognised her. She asked Wilding: “How could you do such a horrendous attack on the mother of your children to the point where you made them scared of me.”

The court heard Wilding had a record of abusing partners.

One, who had been peppered with calls from an imprisoned Wilding despite a restraining order banning him from contacting her, said: “I don’t believe he will ever change and will always be a serious risk to women.”

That former partner, who had met Wilding in a hotel earlier this year in contravention of a restraining order, had been pushed to the floor by him in the car park at Greenbridge retail park in February.

Defending, Rob Ross said his client had been abused as a child and had essentially left home at 15. Wilding recognised he had a problem and had researched prisons where he could do courses aimed at domestic abusers.

Mr Ross agreed his client would be a risk to women were he not to complete rehabilitative work.

Wilding was sentenced to six years and eight months imprisonment for the GWH offence, with three months for common assault, 12 months for dangerous driving, one for using violence to secure entry to a property, four months each for four breaches of a restraining order and two months for battery on his former girlfriend. All sentences will be served concurrently. He had pleaded guilty to all counts.

The defendant, who looked towards his victim’s family as he was taken down, will also be subject to a 12-month driving ban upon release from prison.