'Deranged' Portsmouth 'bully' who punched partner while in bed before threatening to slit her throat and lashing out at police during 13-hour onslaught is jailed

‘Deranged’ Darren McGowan, 42, let rip at his long term girlfriend - who had been forced to endure ‘12 long miserable years’ with the ‘bully’ - before landing himself an immediate jail term after embarking on a hell-raising spree of violence, chilling threats and incessant spitting.

McGowan, of Matapan Road, Hilsea, returned home drunk and intoxicated on drugs after midnight on August 16 when he went for his partner upstairs while the children were asleep, Portsmouth Crown Court heard.

‘You’re a **** mum,’ McGowan told his partner while she was in bed, prosecutor Gary Venturi told the court.

‘He started shouting at her before grabbing her hair and punched her in the back of the head.’

After police arrived at the Portsmouth address, McGowan refused to let them in initially before they managed to get inside. The defendant then became increasingly angry, culminating in him motioning to headbutt an officer. No contact was made, though.

McGowan was taken into police custody where he embarked on a menacing rant at one of the officers including sexual threats against his family - described by the defendant’s own barrister Howard Barrington-Clark as ‘deranged and disgusting’.

Mr Venturi added: ‘He was then taken to a cell where he was constantly spitting.’

It was while in police custody that McGowan informed a police officer of his desire to slit his partner’s throat.

During interviews - one of which took place just before 1.30pm, around 13 hours after the initial attack on his partner - McGowan was ‘unrepentant’ and even laughed while confirming his previous threats.

‘He agreed with the officer about the threats he had made, saying simply: “I was angry. But I meant it at the time”,’ Mr Venturi said.

‘The interview was interspersed with laughter when his threats were put to him. He was laughing saying: “I suppose so, can’t remember.”

‘He also agreed to saying he wanted to slit his partner’s throat, saying: “I said exactly that because I meant it and was angry.”’

The victim, in a statement read out to the court, said of her ordeal: ‘I had 12 long miserable years with Darren where I suffered emotional and physical abuse.

‘He was a bully who made me feel worthless, isolated and alone, as well as inadequate as a mother, friend and partner.’

The victim added how she was ‘scared’ of the ‘narcissist’ who ‘manipulated’ her throughout their relationship.

Mr Barrington-Clark told the court how kitchen fitter McGowan ‘exploded’ after returning home ‘horribly’ drunk as he sought to address problems in their relationship.

The lawyer revealed that while sat in the cell, McGowan, who had a heart attack in his late 30s due to drink and drug abuse, said: ‘I’ve lost everything.’

And now McGowan has lost his freedom after judge Timothy Mousley QC sent him to jail.

The judge told the menace: ‘The victim says you are a bully - I think we would all agree with that.

‘Your behaviour was cowardly and put her in complete fear of you.’

He added: ‘The violence was not just at the victim but at the police as well. They were just trying to calm things down and you turned violent against them. It was persistent behaviour.

‘You showed no genuine remorse and did not apologise to the victim or the police.’

McGowan, who admitted charges of common assault, assaulting an emergency worker, criminal damage, threatening behaviour, and making threats to kill, was given a 14-month jail term.

The defendant, whose last conviction was in 2012 for battery and shoplifting, was also told to pay £500 compensation to the victim and was handed an indefinite restraining order.

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