They were on a ‘make-or-break’ weekend away when lashed out after she made crumpets for herself before doing his cheese on toast
Lewis Rudd appeared at Hull Crown Court(Image: Hull Live)
A drunken bully strangled, punched and stamped on his terrified girlfriend during a “massive huge argument” while they were in a caravan at a holiday village. Lewis Rudd viciously attacked the woman while he was in “a big ball of anger” after she made late-night crumpets for herself after a night out – instead of first doing some cheese on toast for him.
He “came storming into” the bedroom and woke her up before dragging her out of bed and violently attacking her, Hull Crown Court heard. Rudd, 36, denied offences of intentional strangulation and assaulting the woman, causing actual bodily harm, on October 31, 2022 but he was convicted by a jury after a trial.
The court heard that the woman had been in a relationship with Rudd for about five-and-a-half to six years at the time but things were “in a very bad place” and she kept telling him that she did not want to be with him. It was a “very toxic relationship” but they went to Thornwick Bay holiday village at Flamborough, near Bridlington, for a make-or-break weekend.
They were staying in a caravan there and they had been out on the Sunday night. When they returned to the caravan, the woman started to make crumpets for herself and cheese on toast for him.
Rudd was annoyed that she cooked crumpets for herself first, instead of making cheese on toast for him, and she was carrying a bread knife. He “made a big fuss” about the bread knife and there was a “massive huge argument”.
She told Rudd: “I don’t want to be with you. This isn’t how I want it to be.” The woman denied threatening him with the knife or that she lunged with it towards him and threatened to cut his throat with it.
The woman claimed: “He was screaming and shouting to me. He was saying I was worthless. I knew he was seeing someone else.”
She told Rudd that she was going to bed. She claimed that she was asleep when Rudd “came storming into the room” and woke her up.
Rudd told her: “I’m going home. I’m sick of this.” She claimed that Rudd was “just a big ball of anger”. She said: “All of a sudden, he just started attacking me. I was all tangled up in the bed sheets.”
They were “screaming and shouting” at each other. “I remember him charging at me and he wrapped his hands around my neck,” she said.
Rudd dragged her out of bed, he was on top of her on the floor and she tried to get him off. She dug her nails into him to try to “shock him” into releasing his hands.
She mouthed “I can’t breathe” and Rudd replied “F***ing good!” She was shouting and screaming that he was going to kill her and she passed out. The last thing she remembered before losing consciousness was seeing Rudd’s foot. Her pyjamas were ripped.
The woman eventually managed to escape by going to the bathroom and jumping out of the window, landing on the concrete below. The defence claimed that the bruises later found on the woman could have been from the fall, not from Rudd assaulting her.
The woman called the security office, where staff alerted the police. Paramedics attended and the woman was taken to Scarborough Hospital. She had a cut on her head, abrasion on her neck and tenderness on her chest and spine.
She later said: “When he gets drunk, he gets nasty.” Rudd left the holiday park in his car but he was later arrested by police at a petrol station. He later pleaded guilty to drink driving and was banned from driving, the court heard.
Rudd told the court during his defence evidence that he and his girlfriend went to the caravan that weekend for “some us time” together. “It was just nice to get away,” he said.
They went to the holiday village’s clubhouse on the Saturday, with him dressed as Dracula and her as Edward Scissorhands. There were no arguments. “It was a good night,” he said.
After going out on the Sunday night and drinking, they went back to the caravan at about midnight. “Everything just changed just like that,” he claimed.
Rudd claimed that his girlfriend gave him his cheese on toast but then put the bread knife to his throat. He claimed that she told him: “I would love to cut your throat.”
He claimed that he “definitely” did not think it was a joke. “It’s not really something you joke about, to be honest,” he said.
“I was more scared than anything. I retaliated. We had a heated argument. She still had the knife in her hand. She came at me so I put my hands up to push her away.
“That’s when she attacked my face. I defended myself. She tried to grab my face. I went to the bedroom and started packing my belongings. I just wanted to get out of there.”
He denied strangling, punching or stamping on his girlfriend and he denied causing any of the injuries that she suffered. By its verdicts, however, the jury rejected his claims.
Recorder Nick Worsley KC told Rudd that the woman thought that she was going to die and she mouthed that she could not breathe but he said: “F***ing good!” during the assault. “The last thing that she saw was your shod foot coming towards her,” said Recorder Worsley.
“You punched her, stamped on her and strangled her into unconsciousness. You claimed at trial that you acted in self-defence. You denied causing any injuries or bruising and said she was lying.
“None of it was true. You told the jury a pack of lies. The jury saw through them and through you.”
Rudd, of Birkall Road, Thorntree, Middlesbrough, was jailed for three-and-half years and he was given an indefinite restraining order. He had been on bail during the trial and for the sentencing hearing.
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