WARNING: This story contains detail that some readers might find distressing
A man who subjected his then partner to more than nine years of “horrific” sexual and physical abuse has been jailed. His abuse included tying the woman to a radiator naked while she was pregnant and leaving her there, unable to move, for two days.
Every time he went past her, he would kick her and spit on her, and on 11 occasions squirted liquid soap into her and made her swallow it, Leicestershire Police said. The man also raped his victim, strangled her and bit her during their near-decade long relationship.
On one occasion, he told her to “say goodbye to the kids” as he pinned her to the bed and pushed his fingers and thumbs into her eyes.
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Police were contacted by the victim in May last year, two month after the couple split up. The victim said that following the break-up, the man had started to stalk her and would turn up unannounced at her home, where she lived with their three young children, “at all times of the day and night”.
He would drive by her address and sit and listen at her letterbox to what was going on inside her address. He also called her and sent her numerous text messages daily asking where she was, who she was with and what she was doing, police said. Because of this, the victim realised she was not going to escape him and that his obsession was “becoming more intense”, leading her to fear for her safety and ask the police for help.
The man has not been named by police in order to protect the identity of the woman. By law, the woman’s identity cannot be revealed publicly because she is a victim of sex offences.
‘Horrific abuse’
The man was subsequently charged in connection with the catalogue of abuse, and went on trial at Leicester Crown Court in November last year. The court heard that the man assaulted the victim in the summer of 2017 and hit her on the knee with a guitar, splitting her knee open.
It was in January 2018 that he dragged her across the floor and tied her to a radiator. During that ordeal, he also hit her in the face 13 times. She eventually started to bleed and told him she was going to lose the baby, so he untied her – but did not allow her to go to hospital.
In November 2019, he demanded oral sex from the victim which she refused. As a result, he attacked her, hitting her while she was holding their baby daughter. As part of this attack, he pulled her leggings off and attacked her with his hands, leaving her with “extensive damage”. She was in “immense pain” and was bleeding heavily, police said.
While she tried to crawl away, still with her young daughter in her arms, he continued to hit her on the head, smashing it into a wall.
In June 2020, the victim was woken up in the middle of the night by the defendant banging on the front door. She opened it and was punched in the face, the jury was told. He dragged her upstairs by her hair, punching her. He then put her on the bed and hit her and bit her. As the thug pinned her to the bed and pushed his fingers and thumbs into her eyes, he told her to “say goodbye to the kids” and forced her to give him oral sex.
He then forced himself on top of her, raping her, and strangled her until she passed out.
In February 2021, when the victim was heavily pregnant with their third child, the defendant pushed her down the stairs. He put his nails in her eyes and continued to hit and strangle her. The neighbours called the police, and he was arrested, but the victim refused to support the case, and the report was filed, the force said.
In May 2024, after the victim disclosed to police everything she had been subjected to, the defendant was arrested and charged with false imprisonment, sexual assault, stalking, two counts of coercive and controlling behaviour, two counts of rape and eight counts of assault.
He was found guilty of 15 offences, and on Monday (January 13), at Leicester Crown Court, was sentenced to 22 years in prison. Upon release, he will be required to serve an additional three years on licence.
Detective constable Nathan Martin from the Signal unit – the force’s rape and serious sexual violence team – was the investigating officer. He said after sentencing that the case was “one of the most disturbing” he had dealt with as an officer.
He said: “This was a horrific case and the true extent of everything the victim was subjected to only came to light when she felt she had no escape from the defendant. For her and her children’s safety, she finally found the courage to report everything she had been subjected to at the hands of the defendant. Reliving the truly horrifying incidents has been in no way easy for her.
“In all my years as a police officer this is one of the most disturbing cases I have come across. The level of violence was on another level – the defendant was determined to control the victim and had no regard for her mental or physical state.”
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