Serial domestic abuser jailed for attacking women

A judge said Liam McConville was a "nasty bully"

A "nasty" serial domestic abuser has been jailed for attacking two different partners.

Liam McConville, 32, demanded one woman stayed in a relationship with him even while he was serving a prison term for attacking another girlfriend, Newcastle Crown Court heard.

Both women said they had feared for their lives, with one having to barricade herself in the bathroom to escape him and the other fleeing from refuge to refuge.

McConville, of Houghton-le-Spring, admitted offences including assault, criminal damage and making threats with a knife, and was jailed for two years and five months, with a judge calling him a "nasty bully".

The first woman was in a relationship with McConville from December 2021 until May 2023 and said he had a "Jekyll and Hyde" personality, prosecutor Nick Lane said.

Attacks included him pinning her against a wall by her throat at a family meal and holding her on the floor outside a pub with his arm across her neck so she was struggling to breathe, the court heard.

'Content to use violence'

McConville, of Station Avenue South in Fence Houses, was jailed partway during their relationship for attacking another partner but the woman felt pressured to stay with him, the court heard.

In a statement read to the court, the woman said McConville claimed the case against him was lies and his family told her they would hold her responsible if he harmed himself in prison, which was "basically staying I had to stay with him".

She said he started abusing her after his release and she ended up moving from shelter to shelter to try and escape him.

The woman said she was regularly punched, kicked and abused, made to feel isolated and alone, and thought she was going to be killed "on many occasions".

After the relationship ended, McConville began a partnership with a woman he met on social media, the court heard.

Within two weeks he attacked her, repeatedly battering her at her home on 5 May last year and chasing her from room to room, the court heard.

He also trashed her property and threatened to stab her with a small knife while she barricaded herself in her bathroom to try and get away form him, the court heard.

The woman said she feared he would kill her during the attack.

Recorder Simon Goldberg KC said McConville was a "nasty bully" who was content to use violence when the mood took him.

Restraining orders banning McConville from contacting the women were also made for five years.