The poor girl whom he tried to kill twice hears that the judge is giving him a suspended sentence! Its enough to make you lose faith in the criminal justice system! A man twice strangled a woman in a hotel room after a night out in North Wales. Shaun Billinghurst and the woman had been in a relationship and gone for a night out in Llandudno.
When they got back to their hotel room Billinghurst fell asleep but when he woke up he started strangling the woman, Caernarfon Crown Court heard. He pushed her in a chair and strangled her again, and also damaged a wardrobe in the incident. Her screams and bangs from the disturbance alerted other guests and the night porter. He entered the room and the police were called. The 37-year-old defendant, of Gallt y Sil estate, Caernarfon, admitted intentional strangulation and other offences.
Today a judge said they were one off crimes and gave Billinghurst a suspended sentence. An earlier hearing was told the offences happened at the Chatsworth Hotel in Llandudno on November 2, 2024.
Prosecutor Elen Owen said the defendant and victim met on a dating app in 2024. She visited him in Dorset where he was working.
The relationship temporarily ended after a while but reignited in October last year. The couple went to Llandudno in November.
Billinghurst drank a mix of alcohol and started "showing signs of jealousy and being drunk," said Ms Owen. They returned to their hotel room "which took a long time as the defendant kept falling over", she added.
The victim rang a friend about his behaviour and Billinghurst fell asleep in their room. But when he woke up he made a fist and picked up a wardrobe.
He pushed the victim on a chair and put his hands around her neck for five seconds leaving her struggling to breathe, said Ms Owen.
Later he pushed her against the toilet and strangled her again for a similar period. Guests in an adjacent room and a night porter heard the "screams and bangs".
Police arrested the defendant who denied wrongdoing and said he couldn't remember what happened as he had been drinking. In a statement the victim said she was in shock after what he did to her and it was also extremely upsetting for her family and friends.
She said Billinghurst left her traumatised but she is doing her "absolute best to try and put it behind me".
Dylan Wagg, defending, said things became "toxic" towards the end of their relationship. There is a video of the victim "goading (the defendant) to hit her", he said.
However, there was strangulation for a total of ten seconds. Billinghurst works in London laying cables and supports his family, he added.
The judge Her Honour Nicola Jones gave the defendant a 21 -month jail term, suspended for two years, for each of the two counts of intentional strangulation. There was a one-month concurrent, suspended term for the assault in the chair and no separate penalty for causing criminal damage.
She ordered Billinghurst to do 20 days of rehabilitation activity and attend a building better choices programme. He must also pay £500 towards costs, £300 compensation to the hotel for the damaged wardrobe and £115 compensation for a complimentary stay for the neighbouring guests. From....https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/man-strangled-woman-hotel-room-32456017
The Hotels in Llandudno are something else!
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