A FATHER could have killed the pregnant mother of his unborn child when he broke her skull in a drunken rage, York Crown Court heard.

Just hours after Lisa North gave birth to the couple's daughter, Lewis Anthony Oakland stood in the dock to learn his punishment for crashing a baseball bat twice on to her head and punching her in the stomach and mouth.

He was jailed for five years.

"You are very lucky you didn't kill her," Recorder James Hill QC told Oakland. "Mercifully, she was out of hospital within six days. Nevertheless, she had a crack to her skull and small haemorrhages. It could have been very much worse."

The judge said he had cut the sentence after reading two documents from Ms North, one type-written and one hand-written. "She has done you an enormous favour in her letters and I bear very much in mind what she has had to say. I have reduced the sentence on account of what she has written and I hope you remember that in the time to come."

Oakland's barrister, Helen Hendry, said: "Lisa North doesn't want him to go to jail."

But this was disputed by Ms North when The Press contacted her. She said Oakland had to be punished for what he had done and was in the right place.

She said: "That day was D-Day. Now we can all move on and move forward."

Oakland, 41, of Byland Avenue, York, pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm to Ms North with intent. Two charges of assaulting two other people were left on file.

Geraldine Kelly, prosecuting, said that Ms North objected to Oakland's drinking sessions. He had one on June 8 and on June 9. He drank wine at 3am on June 10 and was drunk by 8.30am.

Ms North refused to let him take the car and he punched her in the stomach and mouth. She rang police, but he grabbed the phone out of her hand and they ended up fighting on a bed.

Two other people in the house tackled Oakland with a crutch and a baseball bat. Police rang back and told Ms North to get out of the house.

But before she could do so, Oakland got the bat and hit her on the back of the head twice. She staggered out of the door, but Oakland followed her and tried to get her back inside.

Ms North had a fractured skull and other injuries and spent six days in hospital.

Miss Hendry said Oakland, a long-time heroin addict, had started coming off the drug after starting his relationship with Ms North, but had started drinking instead. He was stressed by difficulties with his ex-partner.

"He is doubly ashamed of what happened that day. This woman (Ms North) is the love of his life," the barrister said.

The court head Oakland had no memory of the incident.