January 2023 Butlin’s Minehead horror as boyfriend headbutts partner before killing cat with hammer A violent boyfriend headbutted his partner while holidaying at Butlins and later used a hammer to kill his cat. Liam White from Crediton violently assaulted his partner in their chalet in Minehead. Another holidaymaker filmed the outrage after hearing the pair shouting and seeing White stood outside with a suitcase. His partner fell backwards onto the bed before getting up again. A few weeks later White killed a cat with a hammer and dumped it in the communal bin area of his flat. A post-mortem found it had a fractured jaw and femur. The 34-year-old, then of Tarka Way in Crediton, pleaded guilty at Exeter Crown Court to assault causing actual bodily harm, battery and causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal. He was given a suspended sentence and ordered to complete a Building Better Relationships programme. Miss Victoria Bastock, prosecuting, said the pair had been in an on-off relationship for a couple of years. The battery happened in Minehead in the early hours of the morning and was reported to holiday camp security. A week later the woman was at his address. White was on his eighth beer and playing his Xbox when he started to get abusive. He told fellow gamers she was a ‘silly s**g and I don’t give a shit about her’. He said he wanted to fight her dad and uncle and would ‘take them both on’. He then threw the remote controller at his partner and injured her elbow, leaving a scar. White said he was sorry and started to self-harm with a razor blade, laughing and saying he could blame it on her, before knocking a cup of tea out of her hand. The cat’s body was found about two weeks later in a bag for life with its litter tray. The defendant has 17 previous crimes on his record, some for violence, but nothing domestic. Judge Anna Richardson said the background to the violence was a volatile relationship.  She said White is a good prospect for rehabilitation and made no order to disqualify him from keeping animals in the future. The defendant was given a 20-week suspended sentence with an alcohol abstinence requirement of 120 days. He was also made subject to a five-year restraining order not to contact the victim.