County Armagh man's violent attacks on partner left her with a broken jaw, permanently scarred and unable to eat freely

Mark Dunlop, 37, challenged the sentence imposed for attacks which left the woman with a broken jaw, permanently scarred and unable to eat freely.

But judges at the Court of Appeal rejected claims there had been a flawed assessment of his dangerousness.

Mr Justice McFarland said: “This was a case of serious and escalating domestic violence by someone with a track record of violence… who has shown no remorse and who is plainly a significant risk to the public, particularly women.”

Dunlop, from Ballynick Road in Loughgall, was convicted of repeated assaults against the victim between June 2019 and April 2020.

During the first drink-fuelled outburst he punched her in the face and dragged her by the hair from a utility room to the kitchen.

As the woman lay on the ground he inflicted further blows and kicked her under the chin while wearing work boots.

He then banged her head against cupboards and off the tiled floor.

The woman lost consciousness but remembered waking again the next morning, still in the kitchen, bleeding from both ears and a scalp wound.

She wanted to go to hospital at that stage, but Dunlop urged her to lie to relatives and family about how the injuries were sustained.

Ten days later X-rays confirmed that she had suffered a fractured jaw as well as head lacerations, loss of hair and severe bruising.

The woman still has a restricted ability to open her mouth fully when chewing, a loss of feeling to the upper lip and a permanent scar above her eye, the court heard.

In a separate attack Dunlop knocked her off a dining room stool after shouting “Shut your f****** mouth or I’ll shut it for you”.

Months later, she was repeatedly about the face when a row flared about being told to delete her sister as a friend on Facebook.

Subsequent medical examinations revealed an undisplaced fracture of her eye socket.

Violence erupted again in April 2020 as they celebrated news that the victim was pregnant.

Dunlop became abusive, blaming her for both the Covid-19 pandemic and for him not being able to see his children from previous relationships.

He brought his clenched fist within inches of her face, instilling fears that she was about to be struck.

Dunlop was arrested and charged following a police investigation into her complaints, but maintained his innocence and insisted the allegations were false.

Last year, however, he was convicted at Newry Crown Court of causing grievous bodily harm with intent, assault occasioning actual bodily harm and further counts of common assault.

He received a nine-year extended custodial sentence, with a further three years to be served on licence following his release.

Dunlop centred his appeal against sentence on claims that the trial judge wrongly concluded that the dangerousness threshold had been met.

He also contended that the term imposed was disproportionate to the facts of the case and his criminal record for previous violent crimes.

Dismissing the legal challenge, Mr Justice Farland said the grounds were weak based on the circumstances of the case.

“His behaviour is escalating, and people with whom he has intimate relationships are vulnerable to being attacked,” the judge said.

“The total absence of remorse coupled with a victim-blaming attitude renders any realistic prospect of rehabilitation as impossible at this stage.”

He confirmed: “Such offending clearly merited the sentence imposed. In the circumstances, we reject both grounds of appeal.”