Stroud woman put boyfriend in headlock and asked for 'blade'

While strangling the man in her living room at Hilltop Close, Stroud, Katrina Morrison asked her mother to fetch her a 'blade' - putting the victim in fear for his life, a court heard.

Morrison pleaded not guilty at Cheltenham Magistrates Court last year to charges of assault by beating and intentional strangulation but was found guilty.

She was sentenced at Gloucester Crown Court last Tuesday, January 9 to an 18 month community order with mental health treatment requirement, fined £280 and given 30 days of rehabilitation activities.

Prosecutor Jack Barry told the court the incident happened late on October 18, 2022 when the man went to Morrison's home for the evening.

The pair had been in a relationship for only a few weeks at the time.

It was the man's understanding that he would be staying overnight with her but at around 11pm that changed when Morrison's mother arrived, said Mr Barry.

Katrina Morrison (Image: GNS)

"In the victim's own words, things got a little heated - the defendant had been drinking and smoking weed and she asked him to leave. This was because her mother was now going to be staying over.

"While in the living room the defendant punched him to the left eye, knocking off his glasses, which fell to the floor.

"That then progressed to her pushing him towards the sofa in the living room and putting him into a headlock. He says that at that point he was struggling to breathe and he started to panic and said 'You're hurting me.'

"He also describes how he heard her shout to her mother 'Go and get my blade.'

"He was very fearful."

In a victim impact statement, the man said: "I felt extremely scared as she had been abusive during our relationship."

Lloyd Jenkins, defending, said Morrison's defence at her trial was that although she did push the man out of her home that night she did not accept either punching or strangling him.

"She was under the influence of alcohol and that may have clouded her memory," he said.

Mr Jenkins said that although Morrison had seven previous criminal convictions she has not been an 'habitual offender' and her previous offences were all committed from 2008 to 2015.