Convicted Leeds paedophile jailed for strangling former partner

Alexander Workman was handed a 16-month jail term at Leeds Crown Court after attacking the woman at home when she quizzed him about his drinking.

The 39-year-old, of Beeston Road, then struggled with the police and headbutted one officer after being put in the back of the van.

The incident happened on the evening of July 3, prosecutor Ella Embleton told the court, after Workman had been drinking at a neighbour’s house before returning home.

Workman and his ex partner began arguing and he grabbed her by the throat with one hand.

She tried to call the police but he snatched the phone from her.

Workman then began crying and apologising, but became aggressive again and attacked her a second time, grabbing her throat again and putting his knee on her chest.

When the police eventually arrived, he tried to make off but was detained and placed in the cage in the back of the police van.

Throwing himself against the van walls, an officer tried to calm him down, but Workman lashed out using the back of his head to make contact with the officer’s face.

He then gave a no-comment interview at the station.

Workman has six previous convictions for 11 offences.

He was jailed in 2014 for sexual activity with a child, then again in 2018 for arranging to meet a girl under 16.

A sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) was imposed and he was ordered to sign the sex offenders register.

As well as admitting a charge of strangulation and assault on an emergency worker for the latest incident, he also admitted breaching the terms of the sex offenders register, by failing to inform the authorities that he had changed his username on his internet-compatible Xbox.

Mitigating, Stephen Smithson admitted Workman’s latest offending passed the custody threshold, and said: “He acknowledges his guilt and does not seek to deflect from what he has done.

"There is no history of violence between the victim and the defendant, although she has been subject to verbal abuse.”

Judge Robin Mairs told Workman he could have “no confidence” in handing him a court order so ordered him into custody.