A MAN who launched a ‘vicious’ attack on the mother of his child the day before he was due to stand trial for assaulting her has been jailed for nearly a decade.

Myles Gustafson, 24, was ‘lying in wait’ for his ex-girlfriend as she walked to her work at Gala Bingo at Oxford’s Kassam Stadium on December 4.

At court on Tuesday, Philip Allman, prosecuting, told the jury at Oxford Crown Court how the 24-year-old had punched her ‘eight or nine times’ in an alleyway near Fry’s Hill Park before he ‘grabbed her by the head and smashed her into the wall’.

He said Gustafson had motive for the attack which left her with a double fractures jaw, as he was due in court the next day to stand trial for assaulting her in August 2019.

But the trial had to be shelved when she was in the John Radcliffe Hospital having metal plates inserted into her jaw because of the violent assault.

He had denied the attack, telling the jury of 10 men and two women that he was ‘100 per cent positive’ he was with friends 45 minutes away at 5.30pm – when the incident took place.

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But after a three-day trial at Oxford Crown Court this week he was found guilty by a unanimous jury of one count of Section 18 grievous bodily harm with intent and one count of intimidating a witness.

Yesterday he was sentenced to nine years imprisonment and was given an indefinite restraining order.

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On the conviction investigating officer Detective Constable Sean Campbell, based at St Aldate’s station, said: “I would like t pay tribute to the victim in this case, and I hope that this result allows her to begin the process of putting the incident behind her.

“Gustafson’s sentence reflects the seriousness of the assault that he committed and I hope that this encourages other victims to come forward and be reassured that we will always fight for justice in such cases.”