PLEADED GUILTY | 

Thug who blinded woman in one eye after ‘beating the life’ out of her faces jail

A police officer previously outlined how the woman was left blind in one eye and with a fractured cheekbone after Carlisle attacked her

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This is the thug who is facing up to five years behind bars after he admitted “beating the life” out of a woman over a supposed debt.

Following discussions between barristers at Craigavon Crown Court, James Carlisle was re-arraigned and confessed his guilt to four out of the seven charges against him.

The 42-year-old pleaded guilty to inflicting grievous bodily harm, common assault, possessing a weapon — namely, a knife — and attempted intimidation, with the charges arising from events on October 28, 2021.

Three further charges of GBH with intent and having weapons were left on the books.

None of the background facts of the case were heard on Wednesday, but a police officer previously outlined how the woman was left blind in one eye and with a fractured cheekbone after Carlisle attacked her.

The first incident happened at her home in Portadown, with Carlisle, who was armed with a knife, calling for her cousin over a debt.

After he was told he was not there, Carlisle said if she made a report to police, he would “murder her whole family” and “burn her house down”.

Later that day, the woman went to her cousin’s house in Craigavon, and it was while she was there that Carlisle “beat the life out of her”.

On Wednesday, the judge freed Carlisle on bail, pending the completion of a pre-sentence probation report and victim impact statement.

The thug, originally from Craigavon, was released to an address on the Harbour Road in Kilkeel, pending his sentence in September.

The career criminal was a henchman of Malcolm McKeown’s, who was gunned down by the crime gang known as The Firm in August 2019.

Both had been charged with the feud-linked murders of couple, Hugh and Jacqueline McGeough, in Craigavon in 2011, but the charges were dropped.

A year before McKeown’s murder, the pair were back in court again, accused of an aggravated burglary in Lisburn.

The householder had been tied up and beaten up.

Carlisle was allegedly linked by DNA on a hi-vis vest, but the charges were dropped just weeks before McKeown was murdered.

The criminal survived an assassination attempt outside a school in 2016, being shot a number of times.

Children who were finishing up their lessons for the day ran screaming in terror as a bloodied and bleeding Carlisle ran towards a school bus, seeking safety.