Northampton man viciously attacked girlfriend in front of horrified neighbours after Hells Angels tried to save her

Jacob Munnelly is now behind bars after a court heard of his appalling record of domestic violence against the woman, as well as other victims.

Northampton Crown Court was told how the 24-year-old had continued to repeatedly breached court orders banning him from molesting the woman since the attack.

Prosecuting, Micaila Williams told the court that Munnelly, of Higgs Close, Overstone, had been in a volatile relationship for four-and-a-half years.

He met her by chance in Bar So in Northampton when the pair were on separate nights out on July 31, 2023.

"He was aggressive toward her,” said Ms Williams.

"A group of Hells Angels pulled him away from her and waited with her for a taxi."

But Munnelly was able to slip into the taxi as it pulled away.

The court was told that the victim had repeatedly asked the taxi driver to stop, but he refused to do so. When she asked him to phone police, the driver said he didn’t want to get involved. Munnelly then took her mobile phone from her and the pair were dropped at her flat.

“She refused to get out because she was scared of what he was going to do to her,” said Ms Williams.

"He grabbed her by the arm and pulled her from the taxi.”

The defendant then aggressively screamed and shouted at the woman before smashing her head into the door.

Witnesses said he was ‘holding her hair in a tight grip,’ and ‘shouting at her to get up the f***ing stairs’ while pushing her up them.

"He then punched her squarely to the head,” said Ms Williams.

The woman then managed to seek refuge with a neighbour. By this time, police had received multiple calls from concerned residents of the flats.

Munnelly took the victim’s bag and let himself into her property.

When police arrived, they found that Munnelly had removed her door key from the keyring and had deleted Ring doorbell footage from her phone so she could not hand it over to the authorities.

The court heard that the victim had told police she had been ‘extremely scared’ in her initial report to police but she had declined to give a victim personal statement to the court.

Munnelly has 22 previous convictions dating back to 2019 including for assaulting an emergency worker, battery, knife possession, driving offences, public order and breaches of court orders.

Because of the victim’s vulnerability, police imposed a Domestic Violence Protection Order against Munnelly to stop him hurting her.

The court was told that he had convictions against the same victim pre-dating and post-dating the attack in July 2023. He had breached the DVPO in May 2024 and had also been convicted of a public order offence in December.

In mitigation, barrister Paul Webb said that his client had been in a ‘toxic’ relationship with the woman, with allegations of ‘infidelity on the part of both parties.’

He said Munnelly had ADHA and anxiety and was under assessment for bi-polar disorder and autism.

Probation officers said that Munnelly had ‘entrenched patterns of abusive behaviour’, and that he was not suitable for a punishment by community order.

He had also admitted that he had been using nitrous oxide and alcohol which were ‘detrimental to his mental health’. He pleaded guilty to actual bodily harm as well as failing to appear at court for a previous hearing.

He was given 30 months in prison.