Sheffield Crown Court: Jail for drugged-up Doncaster dad who attacked partner while she was holding their baby

In the months running up to the attack, the relationship Jamie Pyke had with his then partner began to change due to him ‘spending money beyond their means’ and self-medicating with ketamine to treat pain from a back injury.

Stephanie Hollis, prosecuting, told Sheffield Crown Court that prior to violence breaking out between January 7 and 8 this year, Pyke had been at a friend’s house and returned to the home he shared with his partner and their four small children at 10.30pm that evening.

In addition to being high on ketamine, Pyke also ‘appeared drunk’, Ms Hollis said, adding that upon returning home he started drinking Baileys and went into the kitchen, where his partner was holding their 11-month-old child.

"He opened a cupboard door, and accidentally struck the child…as a response, she struck the defendant,” Ms Hollis said.

Following this, Pyke’s partner realised there was another bottle of Baileys in the living room and went to retrieve it, in a bid to stop the defendant from becoming more intoxicated.

"He assaulted her in the living room and put his hands around her neck, restricting her breathing. She let him have the bottle of Baileys,” Ms Hollis said.

Pyke, 33, then stole his partner’s bank card, and left the house.

Fearing he would withdraw cash they could not afford to spend, his partner transferred all of the money in the account over to her mother.

Ms Hollis said the woman anticipated this would anger Pyke, so she woke up their other three children and got them dressed with the intention of taking them to his mother’s house, which was nearby.

The woman and her four children made it as far as Pyke’s mother’s garden, where he caught up with her and ‘struck out at her’ from behind while she was holding their baby, causing them both to fall to the floor.

"The children were asking him to stop. There was no answer at the defendant’s mother’s house so she felt she had no option but to go home,” Ms Hollis said.

When she returned to the property with the children she locked the door, but when Pyke returned and he realised he could not get into the house, he began to threaten to smash the windows.

She subsequently unlocked the door, but he later went on to smash two windows and a pane of glass in the front door anyway, injuring his hand in the process.

After being allowed back into the property, he assaulted her on two more occasions, once in the kitchen and again in the living room where he hit her over the head with their child’s tablet computer, while all four children were present.

Following Pyke’s arrest, his partner said she did not support his prosecution, the court heard.

Pyke, of Princess Street, Woodlands pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm and criminal damage at an earlier hearing.

Defending, Edward Moss, said: “There is genuine remorse, he’s thoroughly devastated and ashamed by his actions on that day.”

Mr Moss said Pyke had begun taking ketamine to help with back pain from an injury, and has previously sought help from Aspire Drug & Alcohol Services in Doncaster.

Recorder Felicity Davies sentenced Pyke to 14 months in prison.

She said: “These offences are so serious that only immediate custody can follow.”

"It’s an offence which of course has been made worse by reason of the fact your four small children were witness to your repeated attacks on their mother. It’s also aggravated by the fact it was committed in a domestic setting and also when you were under the influence of drugs and alcohol.”