Manchester Evening News
Psychiatrist bit wife’s face in row over another lover
By Tom Brooks-Pollock
January 30, 2014
Psychiatrist Paul Strickland
Paul Strickland, 51, launched the violent attack after finding out that his wife was seeing someone new following the breakdown of their 20-year marriage.
The consultant psychiatrist, who works for the NHS in Salford , Trafford and Bolton , left Judith Richardson seven voicemail messages and banged on the door of their former shared home after finding out about her new partner on January 11 this year.
No-one answered the door of the house, on Clothorn Road, Didsbury – where Judith lives – but Strickland returned the following day.
When his estranged wife answered the door he violently attacked her on the street – biting her on the right cheek for five seconds, slamming her against a car and ripping her glasses off her head and bending the arms back.
Holly Holden, prosecuting, told the court that Strickland then hit his wife over the head with a cardboard box.
Strickland admitted the assault. His wife called 999 and Strickland was arrested – answering ‘no comment’ during police interviews.
The court was told by Ms Holden how the couple’s relationship deteriorated as Strickland showed increasingly ‘controlling’ and ‘jealous’ behaviour.
He assaulted his wife in 2009 but it was not reported to the police for fear of damaging Strickland’s career, according to a statement given by Judith to police about the most recent assault.
But the statement was later withdrawn – also because Judith feared for Strickland’s career, said Ms Holden.
Strickland, of Burton Road, Didsbury, admitted assault and criminal damage of the glasses worth £500 at Manchester magistrates’ court.
He will be sentenced on February 17 and was granted bail on condition that he does not go back to Mrs Strickland’s home.