The Court of Appeal this morning upheld the 12-month prison sentence handed down in March on appellant Campbell Allen after he pleaded guilty to two counts of common assault and assault and false imprisonment.

Over the course of two days in July 2019, Mr Allen imprisoned his partner, shouted at her, struck her in the face and strangled her to the extent that she found it hard to breathe, judges noted.

Delivering the judgment, Lord Justice Stephens said strangulation is “an effective and cruel way of asserting dominance and control over a person through the terrifying experience of being starved of oxygen and the very close personal contact with the victim who is rendered helpless at the mercy of the offender”.

“The intention of the offender may be to create a shared understanding that death, should the offender so choose, is only seconds away,” he said. “The act of strangulation symbolises an abuser’s power and control over the victim, most of whom are female.”

A feature of non-fatal strangulation is that “it leaves few marks immediately afterwards and this paucity and in some cases lack of observable physical injuries to the victim leads to its seriousness not being correctly assessed”. There is “no inevitable commensurate relationship between signs of injury and the degree of force used”, he added.

Lord Justice Stephens noted that non-fatal strangulation can lead to physical and psychological problems, and highlighted studies in New Zealand and Australia which suggest that it may also be a predictor of the future use of lethal force.

He also noted that the seriousness of strangulation has led to the introduction of legislation in some jurisdictions, including New Zealand and 44 states in the USA, criminalising the act of strangulation as a stand-alone offence and increasing sentences where it is a feature.

Lawyers for both the prosecution and appellant in this case recognised that strangulation should be an aggravating feature. The court agreed and said it considered it to be a substantial aggravating factor. The court also considered that the use of body force to strangle is no less heinous than the use of a weapon.

Considering all of the aggravating features, including strangulation, as well as the discretion of the trial judge, the court dismissed the appeal against sentence.