CPS 'sorry' for incorrect charge after woman attacked
- Published
Gareth Jex was sentenced to 56 weeks in prison for the assault and other offences
Prosecutors have apologised to a woman for not charging her ex-boyfriend with a more serious offence after he attacked her.
In May, Gareth Jex strangled his former partner, punched and bit her face, and threatened to "disfigure" her.
He was charged with common assault, with a maximum sentence of six months.
An appeal court judge said the "incomprehensible" charging decision meant Jex received a "far shorter" sentence than he deserved.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has acknowledged the charge was incorrect, and said the charge should have been one of actual bodily harm (ABH), which carries a maximum sentence of five years.
Lord Justice Edis said Jex, from Aberdare, had subjected his victim to a "terrifying and protracted series of crimes".
In July he was sentenced to 56 weeks in prison for the assault and other offences at Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court.
'A miscarriage of justice'
The decision to charge him with a single count of assault by beating was labelled "quite wrong" by senior judges in a Court of Appeal judgment last month.
Lord Justice Edis said the woman was a victim of a miscarriage of justice.
The judge said Jex's offending was "in fact at least one offence of assault occasioning actual bodily harm" and was "seriously aggravated by manual strangulation in the context of sexual jealousy or possessiveness".
He added that there were also "features of false imprisonment in the victim's own home".
The judge noted that Jex had 39 convictions for 65 offences or breaches of court orders from 2001 to 2020.
'Soul-destroying'
The judgment included a statement from Jex's victim, who detailed the years of "physical and mental damage" he had caused her for a decade, describing it as "fighting a losing battle".
"Due to Gareth's mental abuse, extreme jealousy and controlling ways I am now a shell of the person I previously was," she said.
"Gareth continues to treat me as his property and this is soul-destroying for myself as I have had no life since I met him."
A spokesperson for the CPS said: "A full review of the evidence has concluded this charge was incorrect, and instead should have been assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
"We have written to the victim to apologise for our handling of this case and action is being taken to address the issues identified."
In a letter to the court, a district crown prosecutor said the charging decision "failed to give adequate consideration as to the mechanism of the assault, the use of the multiple weapons and the sustained nature of the attack".
The letter said a review of the case and the failings was under way within CPS Wales to "identify what action can be taken to prevent a repetition of the error".
Welsh Women's Aid said it was imperative that survivors were taken seriously when making a decision to seek justice for crimes committed against them.
The organisation's head of public affairs and communications, Gwendolyn Sterk, said: "The impacts of violence and coercive control have profound and long-lasting impacts, sentencing should reflect the gravity of the cost to a survivors' life.
"All criminal justice agencies, including policing and crown prosecution service must ensure they have effective understanding of domestic abuse, especially coercive control, so that they provide the best possible access to justice for survivors and hold perpetrators accountable for all their crimes."