I really don't want to say on this one. My son was charged with section 20 (GBH without intent) and it was reduced to section 47 (ABH). He has a previous conviction for sct18 - for the previous conviction he received a prison sentence of 3 1/2 years, serving half of that (he was in a fight and the other man died - the other man was a heroin addict and had bleeds to the brain because of his addiction - my son hit him once and one of the bleeds burst causing him to die). So it was not totally my sons fault, but he did contribute to this persons death.
The sct 47 - ABH, he is now serving 15 months of a 30 month sentence. It was more is previous offence that sent him to prison. He was looking at an IPP, which is a curel sentence and i feel that your partner MAY be looking at one of these. He could get a max of 8 years, but i have recently read that all sentences below 10 years, only half the sentence is served (it used to be 4 years). To be honest your barrister knows best and yes he does tend to give you the worst scenario. Anything could happen woith this one.
You need to get as many character references for your partner together as possible - give the originals to his solicitor and send copies to probation and the judge (it does help a little).
I really hope this goes as well as it can for you and i do know how you feel - it is awful, but if your partner as done this then he does deserve to serve a custodial sentence - i love my son, but he knows that i agree with his custodial sentence as much as it hurts me.
PLEASE let me know how you go on.