A domestic abuser who terrorised his partner with a zombie knife during a brutal attack has been jailed after 'dog cam' footage allowed police to bring a victimless prosecution. Anthony Murgatroyd had a motion-sensor camera set up in the living room of the victim's home in Cross Green, Leeds, to find out why the dog was chewing the furniture.
However, when Murgatroyd brutally attacked the woman on November 5 after an argument about him seeing prostitutes, the camera triggered and captured vital evidence. During the attack, Murgatroyd dragged the victim into the street and was seen hitting her.
She escaped back inside the living room but he followed her before hitting her in the head and pulling her about by her hair. He then grabbed the zombie knife and lunged at her, pushing it towards her face and making slashing motions to her body.
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Murgatroyd then put the knife behind the sofa, where a dog was seen cowering in distress. He then pulled a screwdriver from his jogging bottoms and shoved it towards the victim's face, the weapon was put away before he hit her again.
He then handed her a beer bottle and shouted at her to open it with her teeth, which she did. He also asked her to touch the zombie knife.The footage showed the victim clearly terrified throughout the ordeal.
She managed to escape from the home and ran to neighbours to get help where police were alerted to the attack. Officers traced 38-year-old Murgatroyd to his address in Waverley Garth, Beeston, and arrested him in a violent struggle where pepper spray and a taser were used.
Police spoke to the victim, who was still in fear and felt unable to bring enough evidence for a prosecution. Footage from the 'dog cam' gave enough to show what Murgatroyd had done.
Detectives from Leeds District Safeguarding Unit were confident it could be used as the basis for a victimless prosecution and Murgatroyd was charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm and possession in private of a zombie knife under the Criminal Justice Act 1988.
Murgatroyd pleaded guilty to both offences when he appeared at court on November 7. He received a 20-month sentence at Leeds Crown Court today, which included a previous domestic-related assault in August.
Detective Superintendent Lee Berry, Head of Crime & Safeguarding for Leeds District said: “This was a prolonged and violent attack involving weapons, and the victim feared for her life during what was an absolutely terrifying ordeal.
“She was left so distressed and afraid of Murgatroyd that she felt unable to support a prosecution against him, but once officers secured and viewed the footage from the ‘dog cam’ they were able to use that as key evidence to progress to charges.
“We are committed to doing everything we can to tackle violence against women and girls and we take all reports of domestic abuse seriously and use all available means to bring offenders to justice.
“Our specialist domestic abuse officers will always support victims with the aim of giving them the confidence to provide statements and support prosecutions against violent partners but, where this isn’t possible, we will other look at other ways of taking action against offenders and keeping victims safe, as we have in this case through some fantastic work by PC Chloe Fennell on the Domestic Abuse Team.”
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