Your victim needs to get her life back (From Warrington Guardian)

Your victim needs to get her life back

A WINSFORD teenager has been jailed for five months after beating a woman so severely she is still suffering difficulties with her eyesight.

James Robert Cheetham, 18, was sentenced to a 10-month detention and training order by magistrates at Northwich Youth Court last Wednesday - despite denying assaulting Nicky Challinor on January 15 this year.

The court heard Cheetham had been living in his car after his mother was issued with a notice threatening to take possession of their home if he continued living there. He was convicted of assault occasioning actual bodily harm at a trial on September 1.

Nigel James, prosecuting, described the attack as 'deliberate and unprovoked' before showing magistrates pictures of Challinor's injuries, which included black eyes, swelling around the nose and lacerations to her leg.

He added: "She pursued Cheetham and another youth after hearing smashing sounds outside her house and seeing them running away from her car after shattering a driver's side window.

"A 'verbal altercation' followed, during which Cheetham threatened to stab Challinor, and he then approached and assaulted her."

Defending, Chris Johnson said Cheetham accepted the severity of the matter and had since totally changed his approach and behaviour while holding down a full-time job.

Chairman of the bench John Argust said that after seeing the pictures of Challinor's injuries and reading a statement detailing her ongoing treatment for eye problems, custody was the only option.

He said: "We have thought long and hard about various factors before making this decision, but the matter is so serious we have no other choice.

"It is time your victim got her life back."

He ordered Cheetham to spend the first half of his sentence in a young offenders' institute before being released on to a five-month training programme.