Man jailed for 'horrific' abuse of partner

Warning: This story contains details that readers may find distressing

A man who subjected his partner to years of "horrific" abuse has been jailed.

Leicester Crown Court heard the man, who has not been named for legal reasons, at one point tied the victim naked to a radiator and left her there for two days.

During another attack, he told her to say goodbye to her children as he physically and sexually attacked her.

The man was found guilty of 15 offences last year and on Monday was sentenced to 22 years in prison, with an additional three years on licence.

During the trial, police said, the court heard how the defendant assaulted the victim in 2017 and hit her on the knee with a guitar, splitting her knee open.

In January 2018, while the victim was pregnant, he squirted liquid soap into her mouth 11 times and made her swallow it.

Officers said he then dragged her across the floor, stripped her naked and tied her to the radiator with a dressing gown cord.

He held the back of her head and hit her in the face 13 times, the court heard, before he left her there, tied up and unable to move for two days.

Every time he went past, he would kick her and spit on her, the court was told.

She eventually started to bleed and she told him she was going to lose the baby, so he untied her but refused to let her to go to hospital.

In November 2019, police said, he demanded oral sex from the victim which she refused - at the time she had a young baby and she was holding their daughter when he hit her.

As part of this attack, he pulled her leggings off and attacked her intimately with his hands, leaving her with extensive damage.

She was in immense pain and was bleeding heavily but, police said, he continued to hit her on the head, smashing it into the 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, according to Leicestershire Police.

He dragged her upstairs by her hair, punching her. He put her on the bed and hit her, bit her and strangled her until she passed out.

He told her to say goodbye to the kids and pinned her to the bed and pushed his fingers and thumbs into her eyes. He forced her to give him oral sex and then forced himself on top of her, raping her.

In February 2021, when the victim was heavily pregnant, 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 declined to support the case, officers said, and the report was filed.

In March last year the victim split up from the defendant but he 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 letter box to what was going on inside. He also called her and sent her numerous daily text messages.

Police said she contacted the force in May 2024 to report the stalking offences, and also disclosed the catalogue of attacks.

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.

Det Con Nathan Martin from the Signal unit – the force's rape and serious sexual violence team – 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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