Zoe Drewett Wednesday 8 Apr 2020 3:25 pm A mother-of-two died in the street after her drunken boyfriend threw a mobile phone at her neck, a court has heard. Levi Ogden, 26, suffered a cardiac arrest after collapsing on the ground in Halifax town centre as the impact of the phone caused bleeding in her brain, a judge was told.
Her attacker, Lloyd Birkby, 27, has been jailed for five years at Leeds Crown Court after admitting manslaughter at a previous hearing.
He had a history of domestic violence against his girlfriend – with the police called to their home around 20 times before her death. The court heard that Birkby, of Elland, West Yorkshire, had also served a number of previous prison sentences for battery.
Judge Geoffrey Marson QC was told the Levi was hit with the phone during an argument on a night out in Hailfax in November last year. The attack and her subsequent death was captured by CCTV camera.
Levi Ogden, 26, leaves behind two young children who will be affected ‘throughout the whole of their lives’ by her death, the judge said Jailing Birkby, Judge Marson told him:
‘You will have to carry with you the knowledge that you have deprived the children of their mother. And it will no doubt affect them throughout the whole of their lives.’
After arguing with Levi – who was with her friend, Courtney Bland – Birkby walked away but then returned in a ‘clearly angry frame of mind’.
He kicked a passing taxi, before picking up a phone which was lying on the ground. Mr Enoch said Levi was about 6ft to 8ft away when Birkby threw the phone ‘with as much force as he could muster’.
She staggered for a few seconds and then ‘collapsed in a heap on the floor’, the prosecutor said. Even after she was on the floor, Birkby continued to act aggressively, assaulting Courtney and being confrontational with two Street Angels who came to help as well as paramedics and police who arrived at the scene. The force of the blow plus the violent twisting of Levi’s neck caused the bleeding in her brain, the prosecutor said. Birkby has been jailed for five years for the manslaughter of his partner.
Stephen Wood, defending, told the court this was a ‘highly unusual’ case and it ‘could not have been reasonably foreseen’ that Birkby’s actions would result in Levi’s death. Mr Wood also told the court that his client has a mental age of 11 years and five months.
