A serial woman beater has been jailed after he attacked a young mother with a rolling pin as she clutched her toddler daughter to her chest. 

Christopher Black attacked his terrified partner when she refused to lend him money and punched and headbutted her during a sustained assault. 

He carried on beating her about the head and body after she picked up her three-year-old child in the hope that he would come to his senses. 

Black, aged 30, was jailed at Exeter Crown Court after a judge branded him a danger to woman after hearing he has six previous convictions for violence against previous partners. 

His attack caused the victim to have a mental breakdown and her family have had to care for her child because she needed in patient treatment. 

She was left with bite marks on her nose and forehead, a black eye, and bruising on her face and body after the attack at her home in Newton Abbot. 

Homeless Black, who was sofa surfing in South Devon at the time, admitted causing actual bodily harm and criminal damage. 

He was jailed for 20 months by Judge Erik Salomonsen at Exeter Crown Court. He also activated two previous suspended sentences totalling 14 weeks and made a restraining order banning any contact with the victim. 

He told him: ’This was a case of sustained domestic violence against your then partner in her home while she had her three-year-old child in her arms.

’There was a row about money and you damaged the television and a laptop before you punched her on the floor and bit her twice on the face.

’Her victim personal statement makes clear the physical and psychological effect on her. You caused so much damage that at present she is separated from her child.

’As in so many cases of domestic violence it is not the physical but the psychological damage which causes major issues on an ongoing basis.

’On any analysis, you are a very dangerous man when it comes to relationships and it comes to women.’ 

Miss Felicity Payne, prosecuting, said Black was staying with the woman in February this year when he demanded to borrow £500 and attacked her because she did not have the money. 

He smashed a television and broke a laptop punching her in front of her daughter. He verbally abused her, telling the child ‘your mummy is a slag’ before biting her twice on the face. 

She picked up the child in the hope he would stop the attack but he fetched a rolling pin from the kitchen and hit her on the leg. He also headbutted her while the child was in her arms. 

He told her he was ‘loco’ and threatened to stab her if she called the police. He seized her keys and phone and kept her locked in the flat overnight. 

At the time, he was subject to two suspended sentences for spitting at a policeman and a railway guard. 

The woman’s victim impact statement said: ’As a result of this attack I had a mental breakdown and tried to commit suicide. I took all the pills I could find at my mother’s house and spent three days in hospital.

’I am working with the crisis team and am not able to look after my daughter at the moment. Other family members are caring for her but I miss her so much.

’I am really worried about what effect this will have on her because she was in my arms when I was assaulted. I knew if I had put her down he would have killed me or caused really serious injuries.’ 

Mr David Charles, mitigating, said Black is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental issues arising from abuse in childhood. 

At the time of the offence he was not taking medication because he felt it did not work. He is very sorry for what he did and wants to apologise to the victim and her daughter.