Previously spared Northamptonshire drug dealer gets jail this time after assaulting his girlfriend

Joshua Barnsley, 21, was given a 10 month suspended sentence in May for possessing and intending to supply cannabis. Judge Rupert Mayo also put him on a drug rehabilitation programme to break his cycle of offending.

But he appeared back at Northampton Crown Court in front of the same judge yesterday to be sentenced for assault, using threatening and abusive language and carrying a knife in public.

The court heard how just a short while later on July 5, he struck his girlfriend on the arm and grabbed her throat during an argument.

Three days later, Barnsley “got the wrong end of the stick” according to his defence counsel, flying into a suspicious rage when the 21-year-old then witnessed his partner visiting a friend’s opposite his house in Roderick Way, Daventry.

He began to hurl abuse at his girlfriend, threatening to hurt her. A witness also heard him say has going to kill her.

Prosecutor Rashad Mohammed said Barnsley turned himself in at a police station following the incident, but officers found him with a lock-knife in his pocket outside the station.

Judge Mayo said he had no choice but to activate the 10-month suspended sentence for the offences - adding further penalties for carrying the lock knife.

Sentencing Barnsley to 18 months in total, judge Mayo said: “I told you that if you were to commit any other offence during the course of your suspended sentence, you would be back in front of me.

“I will activate the full 10 months.”

Defending for Barnsley, Paul Webb said his client was “deeply remorseful” and had been in contact with his partner since, with whom he intended to move back in with following his period in custody.

The lock-knife, he claimed was carried because he worked as a block paver and used the knife to cut binding on materials.

Mr Webb, added: “He stands a good chance of turning his life around.”