Jilted lover from Hartlepool smashed ex-girlfriend's eye socket to pieces in brick attack on home

Laura Corrie told Teesside Crown Court that surgeons inserted a metal plate into her face after Gareth Hunt, 38, threw bricks through her bedroom window at 7am.

She said in a Victim Statement read to Teesside Crown Court: "I had over 20 fractures of my eye socket, cheek bone and nasal bone."

Ms Corrie, was sitting in the public gallery as prosecutor Paul Newcombe told the judge that she was still suffering from the injuries a drunken Hunt caused on November 18.

She said that she had lost half the sensation from the right side of her face and she still suffered pain when eating.

She said that she was reminded of the incident every time she looked in a mirror or applied make-up.

Mr Newcombe said: "The Crown say that she was a vulnerable woman home alone in the early hours of the morning."

The Recorder of Middlesbrough Judge Simon Bourne-Arton QC said that he accepted that Hunt did not intend to cause the injuries in the brick-hurling incident at her home in Sheerness Grove, Hartlepool.

Andrew Teate, defending, said that Hunt pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity "and he approaches the sentence with maturity".

He added: "He accepts that his behaviour was out of order.

"He'd struggled to accept that the relationship(three years) was over, and under the influence of alcohol he made a great error of judgment to go around to the female's house.

"He had made threats to damage the windows and he did.

"My submission is that he did not intend whatsoever to cause her any injuries. He truly apologises for the harm that he undoubtedly knows he caused to her."

Hunt had a prison job in waste management and a friend had offered him a well-paid job in waste management on his release and Hunt offered to pay compensation to Ms Corrie from his earnings.

The judge told Hunt, who appeared over a videolink from Durham Jail: "I accept that you did not intend to caused the injury that you did.

"But what you did in hurling bricks through her windows caused a very bad injury, and she is still very much aware of the injuries that she had caused by you."

Hunt, of Lowthian Road, Hartlepool, was jailed for 22 months and given a five year restraining order banning him from contacting Ms Corrie after he pleaded guilty to inflicting grievous bodily harm and criminal damage.

He denied an original charge of causing grievous bodily harm with intent, which was accepted by the Crown.