A YOUNG Coventry woman was left in agony with steam coming from her hair after her ex-boyfriend threw scalding liquid over her.
But despite his potentially disfiguring attack after breaking into her home, cruel Michael Gadsby was charged only with assaulting her, causing actual bodily harm.
And after pleading guilty to the charge, Gadsby (22) of Borough Way, Nuneaton, was jailed for just 36 weeks by a judge at Warwick Crown Court.
The court heard Gadsby had entered his plea on the basis that he had caused Helen Gibson’s injuries by throwing a mug of hot liquid – although she had said he had poured a kettle over her.
Prosecutor Amy Jackson said Miss Gibson had met Gadsby in August 2014, and they had been in a relationship until November last year when he had assaulted her.
He was on bail for that, with a condition of having no contact with her, when he went to her home in Coventry and got in by climbing onto a flat roof and through a window while she was out walking her dog.
When she returned and went into the flat she could hear a kettle boiling, and was then confronted by Gadsby who demanded drugs and money from her.
She refused, and he grabbed her by her clothing, and she was then doused with very, very hot liquid.
Neighbours who heard her came out and later described seeing steam coming from her head, so quickly took her inside and put her under a cold shower.
Cowardly Gadsby climbed back out of the window to make his escape.
Miss Gibson was rushed to hospital where she had burn gel administered to blistering around her hairline and had to be given morphine.
The court heard Gadsby had convictions for burglary and drug offences, and had been jailed for 12 weeks for his assault on her in November, during which he hit her with a pole after climbing into her flat.
