Man who locked woman in his home and assaulted her jailed

A man who locked a woman in his home in Newcastle-under-Lyme for a week and assaulted her has been jailed.

Nigel Holdway, aged 58, of Newcastle-under-Lyme, launched a vicious attack on the woman when she tried to leave his house in July last year (2023). He slammed her head against the front door and barricaded the exit points so she couldn’t escape. 

He took her phone off her to stop her from contacting anyone for help, despite the woman suffering significant bruising and swelling to her face after the assault. 

Seven days later, Holdway agreed to drive the woman to her home. 

Her blood-stained clothes were returned to her by Holdway a few days later. 

After it was reported to police, we started work immediately to investigate what happened and question Holdway. 

We gathered evidence and charged him with false imprisonment, assault a person thereby occasioning them actual bodily harm and three counts of breach of a restraining order. 

Holdway was sentenced to two-and-a-half-years at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court on Monday (25 March). He pleaded guilty to assaulting a person occasioning them actual bodily harm and three counts of breaching a restraining order. 

PC Chloe Phillips, from the Newcastle-under-Lyme local policing team (LPT) and who dealt with the case, said: “This was a vicious and prolonged attack on the woman who was subject to a traumatising ordeal, both emotionally and physically. 

“I don’t take for granted the devastating effect crimes like this can have. It’s one of the many reasons why we’re prioritising violence and intimidation against women and girls and supporting survivors as much as we possibly can. 

“Those who think it’s acceptable to commit these crimes will be robustly targeted by officers who are passionate about delivering justice to victims.”

If you’ve been affected by abuse and would like to speak to us about it, you can call 101 or message us using Live Chat on our website. 

If you want to stay anonymous, you can call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. Tell them what you know, not who you are.