Ex "promising" footballer jailed for attacking woman he falsely imprisoned

The victim had known ex Sunderland Academy player Allan Bloomfield for 30 years before they got together last January.

Newcastle Crown Court heard the relationship soured when he started accusing her of cheating on him and became verbally abusive.

In May last year they had an argument which resulted in her going to stay at her sister's home.

Bloomfield went there but was told to leave by her brother-in-law.Bloomfield then turned up at the victim's home in Northumberland around 3am on May 19 and told her he had been in hospital.

He asked her to go to his home to talk but when they got there he started shouting at her and accusing her of cheating.

She tried to calm him down but he spat in her face.

Prosecutor Ellen Wright told the court: "She stood up to leave and told him he was frightening her.

"The defendant grabbed her by the hair at this point with both hands. She describes being able to see hair falling from her head. A clump of hair was later found by the police.

"Bloomfield then told her: "You're not going to leave this house, I'm going to kill you."

Miss Wright said: "He began dragging her around the flat, banging her on furniture and the walls." She picked up some scissors but as he took them off her, they cut her hand.The court heard he dragged her around the flat for around 45 minutes, at one stage picking up a knife.

Miss Wright said: "The next memory she has is waking up on his sofa with him shouting at her and grabbing her by the hair again and pulling her around."She was thrown in an alcove of the bedroom. She then realised she was bleeding from the back of her head.

"He slapped her across the face and punched her to her right eye. She raised her hands to protect herself but he punched her several more times to her head and upper body."

When he left the room, she opened the bedroom window and threw some cushions out with a view to breaking her fall.

Miss Wright said: "She described feeling as though she was going to be killed."She got on the ledge but became scared of the height she was going to have to jump from. The defendant then dragged her back from the window. He had a knife in his hands and he threw her on the bed and shouted that he would kill her."

Read Newcastle’s news and sport headlines when you sign up for our free emails - get yours here

The woman then went on to open a window and scream for help. Police turned up and the woman ran to the locked front door and was banging on it.

Bloomfield told the woman to tell police she got attacked elsewhere because "you're not getting me done for this" before opening the door and bringing an end to the lengthy ordeal.

She was left with swelling to her right eye, a cut and swelling to the back of her head and a cut to her hand.In a victim impact statement, she said: "Allan has had problems in the past but I was petrified by how he acted towards me.

"I truly believed I was going to die during this incident, so much so I was going to jump out of a first floor window to escape him.

"I've never felt terror like it. I'm scared of what might have happened. The whole ordeal which took place has left me fearful and distressed"

The level of violence has left me traumatised, anxious and depressed. I genuinely feared for my life that night and my whole personality has changed dramatically since this incident."

Bloomfield, 41, of Union Park Road, Berwick, Northumberland, who has 60 previous convictions, pleaded guilty to false imprisonment on the basis he didn't deliberately lock her in the flat and she only became aware she was not able to get out towards the end of the incident.

He also admitted wounding, threatening a person with a bladed article and possessing cannabis and was jailed for four years and eight months and given a ten-year restraining order.

Rachel Hedworth, defending, said it had been a "toxic relationship".

Miss Hedworth told the court: "He had a promising career in front of him and had been taken on by Sunderland Academy."

She said he'd had a traumatic life and issues with drugs and has made attempts on his own life.

Miss Hedworth said Bloomfield is remorseful and she told the court the physical injuries have not been lasting injuries.