Lee Gornall, of Dorothy Street in St Helens, aged 48 (Image: Merseyside Police)

A thug celebrated his birthday by taking crack cocaine before strangling and battering his girlfriend over the course of three days. Lee Gornall even held a pair of scissors to his partner's face and stabbed her in the leg with the implement during the harrowing ordeal.

The dad also dragged his victim by her hair, kicked her to the chest and issued threats to kill both her and members of her family. The city's top judge today told him his "acts were not isolated impulses but a prolonged campaign of violence, humiliation and control".

Liverpool Crown Court heard this afternoon, Friday, that Lee Gornall, of Dorothy Street in St Helens , had been in a relationship with Danielle Rooney for around six to eig

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