Lewis Rudd viciously attacked the woman after she made late-night crumpets for herself following a night out – instead of first doing some cheese on toast for him
A ‘nasty’ boyfriend strangled and stamped on his terrified partner during a ‘huge argument’ while on a make-or-break caravan holiday. Lewis Rudd was in “a big ball of anger” when he launched a vicious attack on the woman after she made herself late-night crumpets following a night out – rather than first preparing cheese on toast for him.
The Middlesbrough man “came storming into” the bedroom, woke her up, dragged her out of bed and subjected her to a brutal assault, Hull Crown Court heard. Rudd, 36, denied charges of intentional strangulation and causing actual bodily harm to the woman on October 31, 2022, but was found guilty by a jury following a trial, reports Teesside Live.
The court was told the couple, who had been together for more than five years, were locked in a “very toxic relationship”. They travelled to Thornwick Bay holiday village at Flamborough, near Bridlington, for a make-or-break weekend away.
Upon returning to the caravan after a night out on the Sunday, the woman began making crumpets for herself and cheese on toast for him. Rudd took exception to her cooking the crumpets first, and she happened to be holding a bread knife at the time.
He “made a big fuss” about the bread knife, which sparked a “massive, huge argument”.
The woman told Rudd: “I don’t want to be with you. This isn’t how I want it to be.”
She firmly denied threatening him with the knife, lunging towards him with it, or threatening to cut his throat.
The woman claimed: “He was screaming and shouting to me. He was saying I was worthless. I knew he was seeing someone else.”
She told Rudd she was heading to bed, and said she had fallen asleep when Rudd “came storming into the room” and roused her.
Rudd told her: “I’m going home. I’m sick of this.” She recalled: “All of a sudden, he just started attacking me. I was all tangled up in the bed sheets.”
The pair were “screaming and shouting” at one another.
“I remember him charging at me and he wrapped his hands around my neck,” she said.
Rudd hauled her out of bed and pinned her to the floor. She desperately tried to free herself, digging her nails into him in an attempt to “shock him” into loosening his grip.
She mouthed “I can’t breathe” to which Rudd replied “F***ing good!”
She screamed that he was going to kill her before losing consciousness. The final thing she recalled before blacking out was catching sight of Rudd’s foot.
The woman managed to flee by going to the bathroom and leaping from the window, crashing onto the concrete below.
She then contacted the security office, where staff members alerted the police. Paramedics rushed to the scene and the woman was taken to Scarborough Hospital, where she was found to have a cut to her head, abrasions on her neck and tenderness across her chest and spine.
She later stated: “When he gets drunk, he gets nasty.”
Rudd drove away from the holiday park in his vehicle but was subsequently arrested by officers at a petrol station. He later pleaded guilty to drink driving and received a driving ban, the court was told.
During his defence testimony, Rudd informed the court that he and his partner had travelled to the caravan that weekend for “some us time” together.
“It was just nice to get away,” he said.
They visited the holiday village’s clubhouse on the Saturday evening, with him in a Dracula costume and her dressed as Edward Scissorhands, and enjoyed a ‘good night’. However, following another evening out drinking on the Sunday, they returned to the caravan around midnight.
“Everything just changed just like that,” he maintained.
Rudd, from Birkall Road, Thorntree, Middlesbrough, stated that his partner served him his cheese on toast but then held the bread knife against his throat.
He alleged she told him: “I would love to cut your throat.”
He insisted he “definitely” didn’t regard it as a joke.
“It’s not really something you joke about, to be honest,” he said.
“I was more scared than anything. I retaliated. We had a heated argument. She still had the knife in her hand. She came at me so I put my hands up to push her away.
“That’s when she attacked my face. I defended myself. She tried to grab my face. I went to the bedroom and started packing my belongings. I just wanted to get out of there.”
He refuted claims that he strangled, punched or stamped on his partner and disputed causing any of the injuries she sustained. The jury, however, dismissed his account and found him guilty.
Recorder Nick Worsley KC told Rudd that the woman believed she was going to die. “The last thing that she saw was your shod foot coming towards her,” said Recorder Worsley.
“You punched her, stamped on her and strangled her into unconsciousness. You claimed at trial that you acted in self-defence. You denied causing any injuries or bruising and said she was lying.
“None of it was true. You told the jury a pack of lies. The jury saw through them and through you.”
Rudd was handed a three-and-half year prison sentence and given an indefinite restraining order. He had remained on bail throughout the trial and during the sentencing hearing.
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