Violent thug, 28, jailed for attacking partner then threatening police officers in Portsmouth

Thug Damian Mitchell, 28, flew into a rage at the Fratton Road flat he shared with his girlfriend, throwing a stool that bounced off a wall and hit her in the head.

Mitchell admitted assault occasioning actual bodily harm but claimed - in a basis of plea agreed by prosecutors - that his actions were not intentional.

‘My actions were reckless. I accept being responsible for the injury. I accept being angry and aggressive,’ he said in a statement read in court as it emerged he pushed her on a sofa in the incident.

Portsmouth Crown Court heard Mitchell’s statement added: ‘Our arms were waving about. I recall my right hand caught her in her face.’

He added: ‘I’m deeply ashamed of my actions, I offer (my partner) my unreserved and sincere apologies. This should never have happened.’

But the court heard Mitchell’s ‘reckless’ actions did not end there.

When he was interviewed in police custody - at the time also facing a later dismissed allegation of assaulting a child - he flew into another rage.

Spitting venom at PC Celine Bowen, the thug started hitting the disk machine recording the interview with his bare fist.

PC Bowen, who had been warned about violent Mitchell and had taken CS spray and her baton into the interview, was forced to sound an alarm and officers came rushing in to detain him.

‘I was required to remove the CS spray from its holder with full intention to use it such was the volatility of Mitchell,’ she said in a statement.

She added the situation left her ‘extremely unnerved’ and said Mitchell was ‘completely enraged’.

Recorder William Mousley QC jailed Mitchell for 18 months. He has 17 convictions for 39 offences.

These include 12 violent crimes, including robbery and assaulting police.

Recorder Mousley imposed 16 months for the ABH, no separate penalties for the assaults on PC Bowen and her officer colleague, nor for damaging property.

‘At least he had the decency to plead guilty,’ said defence lawyer Howard Barrington-Clark.

The judge imposed an extra two months consecutive as Mitchell had breached a community order for threatening behaviour.

Asked by the judge about the basis of plea, the prosecutor said: ‘I'm a little surprised because the statement of (the partner) suggests this was a deliberate hitting with a stool leg and deliberate hitting and being pushed onto the sofa.'