Former Wolverhampton man who sat on woman and choked her is jailed

Simon Rhys Williams, 44 and formerly of Bilston, who at the time of the incident weighed 23 stone, sat on top of the victim and put his hands on her neck to choke her.

The Royal Court, in Jersey, heard that the defendant previously served as an honorary police officer.

The court heard that when the victim told Williams she was going to phone the police following the incident on August 15 last year, he replied: "I am the police."

Williams himself phoned the police telling them the woman had hit him, resulting in her being arrested, but when her injuries were discovered the officers arrested him instead.

Crown Advocate Simon Thomas, prosecuting, said the pair had been drinking before starting to argue and during the row, the defendant pushed the woman to the ground.

Mr Thomas said: "There were bruises on both sides of her neck, bruises on her chest and bruises on her arms when she was thrown to the ground.

"The doctor who examined her said the neck is a difficult place to bruise accidentally."

He claimed she had punched him in the face and that the injuries to her arms may have been caused when he ‘frogmarched’ her out of the house, but Mr Thomas said the defendant was unable to account for the bruises to the woman's neck.

"He has shown no remorse. This was a sustained attack which caused significant injury," he added.

Williams, who was initially accused of an offence of grave and criminal assault, was convicted of the lesser charge of common assault following a trial held in April. He denied both charges.

Mitigating advocate Adam Harrison told the hearing Williams had been an honorary police officer on the island and asked for him to be given a community sentence.

"The assault was not in any way planned. It occurred very much in the heat of the moment. Although there was bruising and it was extensive, the injuries were nevertheless of a non-permanent nature," Mr Harrison said.

But Deputy Bailiff Robert MacRae, presiding, told Williams: "We have seen the photos, which show very clearly what you did. The only sentence we can impose is the sentence requested by the crown."

Williams, now of Jersey, was also given a five-year restraining order preventing him from contacting the victim.