Derbyshire man who assaulted partner because her phone was pinging "was having a bad year"

Vincent Routledge appeared before Chesterfield Magistrates’ Court on Monday, December 21 where he had previously admitted two counts of drink driving, one on January 12 and another on April 2.

He also admitted one count of being drunk and disorderly on August 4, and assault by beating on October 11.

Prosecuting, Becky Allsop told the court that Routledge had crashed his car into a gatepost during the January 12 incident, and a parked van in April.

In August, police were called to his now former partner’s home where the 52-year-old was “drunk, shouting and waving his arms around.

Then in October, police were called again to reports that the defendant had punched the woman to the face.

Describing the October incident, she said: “Police were called to her address at about ten to five in the morning. She said she had been in bed and he had come upstairs and hit her a lot of times.

“She said he had been drinking and police found an empty half bottle of vodka in the kitchen. He was annoyed because her phone kept pinging.”

Mitigating, Carl Meakin said that Routledge, of Mill Hill Close, Ripley, said: “This year things have clearly gone quite wrong for him. For the past 13 years he has been the sole carer of his granddaughter, he stepped up and raised her by himself.

“As she got into her teenage years, issues arose in matters of discipline, and she decided to go and live with her mother. He was still able to go and see his daughter and granddaughter, but he’s not seen them since the start of the pandemic.”

Magistrates gave him a two-year community order to include 10 rehabilitation days and 31 group sessions.

He must also complete 80 hours of unpaid work and was issued with an electronically monitored exclusion zone, preventing him from entering the area of Heanor where the woman lives.

He was also banned from driving for three years, and ordered to pay £150 in costs and a £90 victim surcharge.

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