Adam Fox jailed for violent attack on woman in Darlington hotel

Adam Fox repeatedly headbutted the woman in the face, strangled her to the edge of unconsciousness and punched again and again, mocking her while doing so.

The 29-year-old carried out the vicious attack while staying in a Darlington hotel in March last year.

When his victim fled, Fox chased her out into the town centre to continue the attack and she ran in front of a passing bus to escape him, before a quick-thinking member of the public came to her rescue and called police.

Read more: Police find body in the search for missing mum-of-two Nicola Bulley

Adam Fox (Image: Contributor)

Fox was arrested and investigators learned that he had previously been jailed for assaulting the same woman in 2019.

She had begun to build a new life away from the area with help and support of services and was doing well.

But as soon as he was released from prison, Fox immediately tracked down and contacted the victim.

Soon the pattern of physical and emotional abuse began again and once more she became trapped in a controlling relationship that she thought she could not escape from.

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After a trial, Fox was found guilty of three counts of assault causing actual bodily harm, breach of a restraining order imposed after the 2019 prosecution and a newly introduced offence of non-fatal strangulation, introduced as part of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021.

Fox, who is originally from Seaham, forced the vulnerable victim to relive her ordeal by giving evidence and being cross-examined at trial, then appealed his conviction and made her go through it again at Teesside Crown Court in December 2022.

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  Last week Fox was sentenced to six years and two months in prison, along with a two-year extended license and an indefinite restraining order preventing him from ever contacting the victim.

  Investigating officer Heidi Weir, who led the investigation, said: “This is a truly sad case involving a victim who has been manipulated and coerced into returning towards her abuser.

  “I know that she can turn her life around and become a stronger person with the help of support services and I hope that her attendance at court has shown her how much inner strength she has to make those difficult life changes.”