A man headbutted his “on-off partner” when she failed to wake up to tend to their baby daughter, before bombarding her with abusive texts and calls, and threatening to break her neck.

Brett Holder, who in 2021, racially abused a taxi driver and tried to pour a pint of beer down his neck, had been in a relationship with his victim for around four years, with them sharing a two-year-old child, Preston Crown Court heard.

On July 2, the pair, who were in an “on-off relationship”, were at the victim’s home address, asleep on the sofa.

Paul Cummings, prosecuting, told the court that Holder had been drinking and had also taken class A drugs, and when his daughter started crying, he became upset and angry because his partner did not wake to tend to her.

He said: “She told him to go to bed, and he went upstairs.

“She then changed her mind and told him to go home, but he chased her downstairs, and at that point she thought she was going to be assaulted.”

READ MORE: Racist passenger tried to pour beer down throat of Asian taxi driver

Mr Cummings told the court that the woman ran out of the house and went to a neighbour’s home to get help, with the neighbour then taking the child away for its own safety.

However, as the victim went back into her property to again tell Holder to leave, he became angry and told her she was, “an idiot for making a scene”.

He then pushed her against a wall and put both his hands around her neck and headbutted her.

Mr Cummings went on: “She felt like she couldn’t breathe. He let go eventually and she ran to the kitchen, but he followed her and then headbutted her twice more.

“She then ran into the garden and waited for him to leave.”

The incident was reported to the police with the victim urging Holder to hand himself in.

Between July 2 and August 3 however, the 26-year-old bombarded the mother of his child with, at first, bothersome messages, which then turned abusive and threatening.

On July 15 he sent 20 messages to her phone, telling her he “loved her”, which she did not reply to, and blocked his number.

Despite this, he was still able to contact her and continued to do so, calling her more than 50 times from a withheld number between July 15 and July 16.

Mr Cummings continued: “She made it clear that the relationship was over but Holder than sent a series of very abusive messages.”

In one of the messages, Mr Cummings said Holder had told his victim she, “was lucky that the incident in July hadn’t been more serious”, and in another, told her he was going to go over to her house every day and wait to see if she was home.

He also threatened to break her neck, which made her feel on edge, and scared that he was watching the house.

Holder eventually handed himself in on August 3 but provided police with a no comment interview.

In a victim personal statement, his ex-partner said she had been left mentally drained by Holder’s behaviour, which would get worse when he drank and used illegal drugs.

She explained she had tried to get him help for his mental health in the past, but he couldn’t control his anger and would threaten and abuse her but would then cry and apologise.

Mr Cummings told the court Holder’s victim now worries that her child has been affected as a result of the abusive relationship.

Holder, who has eight convictions for numerous previous offences, including criminal damage involving the same victim while she was pregnant with their child, in which he jumped onto her car windscreen and smashed the glass while she was in the vehicle.

He was also handed a community order in 2021 for a racially aggravated common assault against a taxi driver; and has failed countless times to comply with previous such orders.

Holder, of Coronation Avenue, Padiham, pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm and sending threatening messages. 

Judge Simon Medland KC said: “I hope you realise that excessive drinking causes you to behave in an unacceptable way.

“You are a father and need to be a role model, but you are no role model if you are drunk and abusive.

“If you take controlled drugs, they will slowly but surely, and inevitably, destroy your life, as they do to everyone who takes them.”

Judge Medland jailed Holder for two years, suspended for two years, ordered him to carry out a building better relationships programme and complete 150 hours of unpaid work.

He was also handed a 10-year restraining order in respect of his victim and can only make contact with her about his child if it is done through social services.