A court has heard horrific details of how a woman was left scarred after her former partner poured boiling hot water over her head.

Dorne Fairbank was left with skin peeling from her face and has been suffering nightmares since she was attacked by Harry Lightowler in March.

Bradford Crown Court was told that she covers the scars on her forehead with her fringe and wears long sleeved tops to cover marks on her arm left by the boiling water.

In a victim impact statement Miss Fairbank said that she was installing CCTV and the police were going to install a panic button.

Prosecutor Ewan McLachlan told the court that even though the pair had been separated for a few months Lightowler, 51, was annoyed because of the amount of time Miss Fairbank had been spending with her mother when he showed up at her Wyke home and started banging on the door.

He was reluctantly let in but then went into a rage and started to verbally abuse her before spitting in her face.

As she went to wash it off, Lightowler then picked up the kettle which had just boiled and poured it over her head.

Mr McLachlan said the pain was excruciating and Miss Fairbank screamed at Lightowler to stop. The defendant then grabbed her by the shoulders and told her that it was all her fault before leaving the house.

When he got back to his house at Gardenfield, Wyke, Lightowler phoned his alcohol worker, Calvin Stewart, to tell him what he had done.

Mr Stewart went to see the complainant and called an ambulance and police when he saw that skin was peeling off her face and forehead.

Miss Fairbank was taken to hospital and had to be seen by nurses every other day for three weeks and has been taking painkillers and antibiotics.

Yesterday the judge adjourned sentence so that the case can be listed before Recorder Michael Smith, who had previously indicated that he would not pass a sentence of more than 18 months.

Lightowler was remanded back into custody until a date yet to be fixed.

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