Son who beat his own mum for eight years is banned from speaking to her

A violent son who battered his mum for eight years could not control his ‘desire’ to abuse her, a court heard.

Matthew Cowgill, 38, has a history of violence against his mum, including attacking her with a belt and metal dumbbell and grabbing her by the throat.

The violent spree began in 2010 when he attempted to bite his mum and smash up the house they shared, resulting in an indefinite restraining order which he has breached repeatedly.

Cowgill has 39 convictions for 64 offences over the last eight years, including grabbing his mum by the hair, throat and arm and forcing his mum to let him live at her home.

Despite his actions Mrs Cowgill told his defence lawyers she wants his restraining order lifted and wishes to keep in contact with her son.

The court heard Mrs Cowgill, who is in poor health, sends money and letters to her son every week and sees him as her ‘salvation’.

However, Judge Martin Rudland said her maternal love for her son made her ‘vulnerable’ and sentenced Cowgill to 21 months in prison for breaching the restraining order.

The most recent breach occurred on March 14, when he turned up at Mrs Cowgill’s home address unannounced, stole £10 from her handbag and broke her mobile phone.

At the time he was serving a suspended sentence for breaching the order on February 8th 2019, Manchester Square Crown Court heard.

Cowgill’s defence barrister Alistair Reid, said his client had difficulties managing his temper but had not been violent towards his mum since 2015 and regretted his past behaviour.

Sentencing him, Judge Martin Rudland, said: ‘You are 38 years of age and this is not the first time that I have sentenced you for similar matters. It defies belief that you treat her in the way that you do, and she is vulnerable due to the maternal bond that you have, because you are her son.

‘You had a bad record before you even turned your attention to abusing her. You can’t go on behaving towards her in this way. She is in poor health, and she does see you as her salvation when all you do is abuse the situation.

‘You seem to be completely inhabited in your desire to abuse her as you do. A deplorable state of affairs’.