Newcastle baby-threat man Lee Herron jailed for choke attack

Lee Herron was jailed for two years and two months at Newcastle Crown Court

A man who strangled a woman and threatened to harm her baby during a drug-fuelled rampage has been jailed.

Lee Herron repeatedly threatened to rape the woman during a half hour "psychotic episode" in March 2023, Newcastle Crown Court heard.

Prosecutors said the attack in the woman's home was "nightmarish" and had caused her ongoing traumatic effects.

Herron, 34, who admitted intentional strangulation and assault by beating, was jailed for two years, two months.

'Unimaginable fear'

The court heard the woman was at her home with her partner and two young children on 4 March when Herron arrived saying he had a problem with his car.

She went to bed, but when she came down at about 05:30 BST the following day Herron was shouting to himself in the living room.

The woman tried to calm him but he grabbed her by the throat with both hands and shouted he would rape her, pulling at her pyjama trousers.

Judge Sarah Mallett said the rape threats were "horrific" and Herron's actions "must have increased her fear to an almost unimaginable level".

The melee moved into the kitchen, although the victim believed she blacked out as she could not remember switching rooms, the court heard.

Herron, of Staithes Avenue in Benton, Newcastle, tried to get up the stairs, screaming he wanted to get the woman's baby.

'Cycles of violence'

Prosecutor David Povall said the whole episode had a "nightmarish quality".

The court was told the woman switched from having to fight Herron, with five or six "cycles of violence" noted, to trying to calm him down.

He did manage to get upstairs while the woman called police and Herron pulled bedding from a child's bed in his hunt for the baby, Mr Povall said.

During police interviews, Herron "completely denied" what had happened and called the woman's allegations "ridiculous", the court heard.

In mitigation, Lee Fish said Herron had a "genuine mental illness", although he accepted the alcohol, cocaine and ketamine he had taken that night would "not have helped".

Mr Fish said Herron's subsequent treatment in a secure hospital and prison had been "overwhelmingly positive", his medication was "working" and his mental health "stable".

The court heard he had 23 convictions for 42 offences and was jailed for three years in 2019 for attacking a man in the street.

Judge Mallett said he had a "significant history of violent and threatening behaviour", adding it was clear he was experiencing a "psychotic episode" at the time of his latest attack but had contributed to his condition by taking ketamine.

She said the attack had caused the victim post-traumatic stress disorder, causing her to leave a job working with disabled children with challenging behaviour.