Four years for man found guilty of ABH

A GODMANCHESTER man accused by a woman of imprisoning her in his home for 10 days and sexually assaulting her has been jailed for four years.

Paul Hagan-Chambers, 50, left the woman with severe facial bruising and tried to throttle her with a length of tubeing, Huntingdon Crown Court heard on Thursday.

At an earlier trial, a jury cleared Hagan-Chambers of Tudor Road, of four counts of rape and one offence of sexual assault, all of which he denied.

The Huntingdon woman, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, claimed Hagan-Chambers had detained her against her will at his home and repeatedly raped her.

Hagan-Chambers claimed the sex was consensual and denied keeping the woman in his house against her will. He also claimed she was regularly left alone in the property with the door unlocked and was able to leave at any time.

However, he did admit causing the woman actual bodily harm and was convicted of a similar offence by a jury.

He was kept on remand following the allegations in March 2006.

At the trial, the court was told that the pair had once had a sexual relationship but that had ended in October 2005.

The prosecution told the jury: "In March last year, he made contact with her again, saying he was ill. She went to see him at his home but when she tried to leave he became violent towards her.

"He grabbed her out of the blue. He sat on her with his hands around her throat. He lost the plot - went ballistic. She thought he was going to kill her."

The woman claimed she escaped from the house after dialling 999 while Hagan-Chambers was out of the house.

When interviewed by police she was said to have suffered serious facial injuries.

Hagan-Chambers admitted that he had punched her in the face during an argument, but had said that was an act of self-defence after she jabbed him with a knife.

In sentencing, Judge Nicholas Coleman said the time Hagan-Chambers had served on remand would be deducted from his four-year sentence.