A cowardly thug who kicked in a breastfeeding mother’s door and punched her so hard she suffered internal bleeding has been placed behind bars.

Such was the force Taylor Kirkpatrick struck the mother of his child, she fell to the floor with organ damage and required emergency intensive care.

On realising the catastrophic damage she had suffered at his hands, the abuser, 26, then phoned 999 and told a call handler a pack of lies - that she had “slipped and fallen out of the bath”.

But the brave young woman soon found the courage to overcome her abuser’s deceit and helped secure a prosecution against him.

Kirkpatrick, of Ashford, was jailed at Canterbury Crown Court on Friday for three years, for what a judge described as a “despicable” and “absolutely appalling” assault.

Outlining the facts of the case, Judge Nicholas Worsley KC explained she was at home in the same town, with her two young children, when Kirkpatrick forced his way inside at about 10pm.

“You kicked the door in, went upstairs and started arguing with her,” he told Kirkpatrick.

“You then said to her that she needs to learn her lesson, and hit her from your right hand to her left side.

“She was crying in pain, but you kept on shouting at her, saying, ‘If you don’t move, I’ll stamp on your head.’

“She managed somehow to pull herself up against the bed and says she could see from your face that you were starting to see she was badly injured.

“She said, ‘I could tell he realised this wasn’t just normal (domestic abuse).’

“How appalling is that, where normal is being battered by the person who is supposed to love you?”

“This was a cowardly and despicable thing to do, absolutely appalling behaviour,” continued the judge as Kirkpatrick could be seen crying over a video link from HMP Elmley.

“And then afterwards, you were on the telephone lying to the emergency services, saying she’d slipped and fallen out of the bath - that’s a classic abuser line.

“Fortunately, she had the courage in the end to say what you had done to her.”

Opening the case, prosecutor Caroline Knight told how the pair had been in a fraught, on-off relationship, with Kirkpatrick previously receiving a 12-month prison sentence for strangling her in 2023.

The most recent beating on March 13 left the woman - whom we have chosen not to name - with lacerations to her spleen.

She will require annual check-ups for life to monitor the serious harm done to her kidney, the court heard.

In a victim impact statement read aloud, she described how the incident affected not only her, but also her children.

“I spent Mothers’ Day in the hospital alone without them, which was very hard for me and them,” she said.

“I was still breastfeeding my youngest daughter at the time and had to stop abruptly.

“That was difficult for my daughter. I wanted to make the decision of when to stop breastfeeding and do it gradually, Taylor took that away from me.

“I don’t think I will ever be able to trust someone again. I thought I could trust Taylor, now I see how wrong I was.”

The court also heard how two months before the attack, Kirkpatrick messaged his victim’s mother, threatening to “run her off the road”.

Mitigating, Harriet Lewis explained Kirkpatrick had, as a child, himself been subject to domestic abuse at the hands of his father and grandfather.

“Clearly this had all influenced and impacted his early adult years.

“He struggles with how to deal with emotional situations,” said Ms Lewis.

“He has turned to drugs and alcohol as a form of escapism to deal with the trauma.”

In a letter written to the judge, Kirkpatrick expressed remorse for his actions.

“Not a single day goes by that I don’t think about what I’ve done. I simply can’t forgive myself, and quite frankly, I hate myself,” he wrote.

“I am truly sorry from the bottom of my heart. I can’t believe that I did that to her.”

The court heard Kirkpatrick has previously worked as a plasterer and decorator, but has been held on remand since his arrest in March.

Ms Lewis urged the judge to suspend her client’s sentence, arguing he deserves the chance to rehabilitate in the community.

But handing down Kirkpatrick’s punishment, Judge Worsley said his crimes were so serious that only an immediate custodial sentence would be appropriate.

“She gave you chances again and again, even after you strangled her. But what she says now is she wants to be safe from you,” said the judge.

“What you did will have a lifelong impact on her. It’s to be hoped that the child you two shared is too young to remember what you did to her mum.

“You say in your letter that your actions were inexcusable. Well, frankly, they were.”

At a pre-trial preparation hearing, Kirkpatrick, had pleaded guilty to sending a threatening communication and inflicting grievous bodily harm without intent.

But the judge questioned why, given Kirkpatrick’s menacing remark about “needing to learn a lesson” immediately before the attack, the prosecution had not charged him with the more serious offence of inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent.

The charge carries a maximum of life imprisonment, although only for the most severe cases.

Judge Worsley imposed an indefinite restraining order forbidding Kirkpatrick from contacting his former partner, her mother or her two children.

He was also sentenced to a consecutive nine-week prison term for the threatening message sent in January.

Speaking to KentOnline after the hearing, the mother said: “I would like to thank the police for their outstanding help and support throughout the case.

“I feel the sentence Taylor received is adequate, and it gives me peace of mind having a restraining order for an indefinite amount of time.”