Organizations fighting domestic violence have criticized a judge for sparing Tom Meighan from jail despite his violent attack against former fiancee Vikki Ager.

AceShowbiz - Bosses at domestic violence charities have criticised a judge's decision to spare axed Kasabian frontman Tom Meighan jail after he pleaded guilty to assaulting his ex-fiancee.

Meighan, 39, pleaded guilty to charges of assault at Leicester magistrates court on Tuesday (07Jul20), where he was ordered to carry out 200 hours' unpaid work for attacking his ex Vikki Ager.

The court heard that the "Club Foot" singer hit his ex in the face, shoved up against a hamster cage, held her by the throat, and threatened her with a wooden pallet during the assault on 9 April. Footage shown in court showed him striking Ager and dragging her into their back garden.

The lack of a jail sentence has now been condemned by bosses at domestic violence charities as inappropriate.

Nicki Norman, the acting chief executive of Women's Aid tells The Guardian, "This was not appropriate sentencing. Robust sentencing is important for ensuring abusers are brought to justice and for improving survivors' confidence in the criminal justice system - which far too often they tell us fails to protect them."

Although not directly commenting on the Meighan case, a spokesperson for the domestic abuse charity Refuge said they were concerned that survivors may not have confidence if sentences for domestic violence crimes are light.

They said the criminal justice system must, "keep pace with the scale and severity of domestic abuse in this country and ensure that perpetrators everywhere face the full force of the law."

Kasabian ditched their singer on Monday with an oblique statement claiming their frontman was dealing with "personal issues." On Tuesday, after his conviction, they issued a fuller statement condemning their former frontman.

"There is absolutely no way we can condone his assault conviction," they said. "Domestic violence and abuse of any kind is totally unacceptable."

"As soon as we found out about the charges made against Tom, we as a band made the decision that we could no longer work with him. Unfortunately we had to hold back this information until he was found guilty in court."

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