Gay man attacked partner with poker because he thought he was having affair with a woman

A man who attacked his gay partner with a poker because he thought he was having an affair with a woman has been jailed for six months. George Ronald Harding, 21, hit his civil partner Martin Harding with the poker and then bit him and scratched a pair of scissors down his arms and naked body after discovering that he had been communicating with the woman on a social networking website.

But despite the attack, a court heard, the couple, who live together in Longtown, Cumbria, are still keen to make their relationship work. Prosecutor Gerard Rogerson told the court the incident happened on February 28 after George Harding looked at his partner’s Facebook page and spotted the woman among his friends. He picked up the poker and hit him with it about four times, then used an open pair of scissors to “score” his back. He also bit him and left a small stab wound to his shoulder.



While the attack was going on, the coal man came to the door – possibly saving Martin Harding from more serious injury, the court heard. Both George Harding and his partner addressed the judge at Carlisle Crown Court, where he pleaded guilty to a charge of causing actual bodily harm. They said that the incident happened because George Harding had stopped taking the drugs he had been prescribed for mental problems.

They felt that the medication had been interfering with his libido, so they agreed he should stop taking it “for an experimental period” in an attempt to get their sex life back on track, they said. But while it did indeed improve their sex life, the absence of the drugs left George Harding with depression and paranoia. Both men told the judge they still cared for each other and said they had now come to an agreement as to how in future they would improve their sex life.