An extraordinary statement from the CPS tore into the 'excuses' of a thug who smashed his ex's eyeball out of her head with a hammer.

These pictures show the brutal injuries suffered by Ruth Morgan at the hands of her former partner Martin Brown, after confronting him at his new girlfriend's home.

Brown, 43, was jailed for nine years and three months at Liverpool Crown Court after pleading guilty to inflicting GBH with intent.

Ms Morgan, 41, was found lying in a pool of blood with her left eye hanging from her face after Brown smashed the hammer into the side of her head.

The violent criminal then kicked Ms Morgan to the head as she lay on the ground, knocking her unconscious.

Ruth Morgan, who was attacked with a hammer, holding her false eye

In court, Brown's legal team suggested months of harassment by Ms Morgan, including incidents of smashing windows for which she was convicted, provoked the attack.

But after the case, lawyers from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) issued a strongly worded statement dismissing Brown's excuses.

District Crown Prosecutor, Matt Harvey, the lead on domestic abuse for the CPS in Merseyside and Cheshire, told the ECHO: "Martin Brown claimed that harassment by Ruth Morgan justified him inflicting terrible injuries on her.

"That is a cruel fallacy. The answer when faced with provocation is to call the police

"Instead Brown took a hammer to an already vulnerable woman and hit her so hard that her eyeball came out.

"The instigators of domestic violence often blame the actions of their partner or an ex-partner.

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"But the CPS refutes that. Blaming someone else is not a defence, it’s an excuse...

"Many victims come to believe that they deserve what is being done to them and some think it’s just something they have to live with.

"They don’t. We work with the police to encourage victims to report their abusers and bring to an end the torment that they may be going through."

Ruth Morgan lost her eye after being hit with a hammer by her ex boyfriend

Martin Brown, 43, of Hastie Close, Netherley, admitted inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent

The court heard Brown snapped when Ms Morgan threw paint at the home of his new girlfriend, Maxine Anderson, in Rushlake Drive, Netherley.

Ms Morgan denies throwing the paint, but told the ECHO she went to the address at around 11pm on April 25, to confront the pair after her own windows were broken.

She dated Brown, of Hastie Close, Netherley, for two years, before splitting up 18 months before the life-changing assault.

But Ms Morgan says she had no idea that Brown had 15 previous convictions, including for assault, criminal damage and harassment against a different ex-partner.

During the court hearing Kyra Badman, prosecuting, said Ms Morgan had been convicted of criminal damage and assault against the pair.

Terrible injuries suffered by Ruth Morgan, who had her eyeball smashed out of her head with a hammer by her ex-boyfriend Martin Brown

She had smashed windows at Ms Anderson's address the day before the attack that destroyed her left eye.

But Ms Morgan told the ECHO: "If I admit smashing windows, why would I be bothered about paint? And where would I have got the paint from?...

"I sent a text saying 'I will be round there now'. He (Brown) knows I'm the kind of person that if he provokes me I will respond.

"I went around the garden gate but I didn't even get to knock on the door and he hit me on the head...

"I remember thinking; am I going to get finished off here? Your body goes into shock.


"I thought; if I can just stay awake I'll be okay. But then I felt a kick to the back of my head and I remember nothing."

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Brown denied he had caused the injuries, saying he "found" Ms Morgan in that state, but later accepted he had attacked her.

Ms Morgan suffered "severe and complex injuries" and plates were inserted in her fractured skull at hospital, but her eye was beyond repair.

She also needed surgery on a serious injury to her thumb, which had left the bone protruding from the skin.