A paranoid thug who subjected women to 'utterly terrifying' assaults has been handed a life sentence. Courtney Ambrose Lee, 29, inflicted terror upon his victims through violent episodes that unfolded within mere days of one another. During one brutal incident, his former girlfriend 'genuinely believed' Lee intended to murder her, while his second victim sustained life-threatening injuries during an ordeal at a Salford flat.
Judge's ruling
Judge Nicholas Dean KC declared: "You pose a continuing and serious danger," adding: "The public cannot be protected by any sentence other than life imprisonment."
Manchester Crown Court was told that a fortnight before the Salford incident, Lee grew increasingly 'paranoid' towards his then girlfriend, aged 25, at an address in Tower Hamlets, London. Demanding access to her mobile phone, he subsequently accused her of 'betraying' him before striking her face, causing her nose to bleed, reports the Manchester Evening News.
Attack details
Preventing her escape from the bedroom, he barricaded the door using furniture. Lee struck her once more, locking the door and blocking her exit. The judge informed Lee that the woman 'genuinely believed' you were going to kill her. She ultimately managed to flee and sought assistance.
The assault on the second woman occurred during the early hours of 29 March last year. Having departed London, Lee was residing at a Salford flat with the victim, who remained oblivious to the attack he had perpetrated in the capital. Lee had been taking cocaine and cannabis. She observed his behaviour shift after cocaine use, becoming paranoid once more.
Prolonged knife attack
Without warning, he turned violent, seizing her and hurling her against a door before tossing her about the room. Lee attacked her with a kitchen knife in what became a 'prolonged' assault, stabbing her multiple times. Despite her pleas for him to stop, Lee persisted. He proceeded to drag her across the floor by her hair, at one stage pulling her towards the balcony of their ninth-floor flat. She broke free and hammered on a neighbour's door seeking assistance before collapsing. The judge described her injuries as life-threatening, requiring urgent hospital treatment.
Sentencing
Lee admitted false imprisonment, intentional strangulation and assault occasioning actual bodily harm regarding the initial attack, and admitted wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm concerning the second incident. He stood trial for attempted murder relating to the Salford attack but was cleared. Lee, of no fixed abode, received a life sentence with a minimum term of seven years and 229 days. He also received a consecutive standard 18-month prison term for breaching a previous suspended sentence.
