Chloe Othen: Model was heard screaming during attack, court told

The boyfriend of a model who claims her ex-partner bit and beat her in his central London flat told police he heard her "screaming for help" on the phone, a court has heard.

Chloe Othen, 33, was also punched in the head 30 times by Ricky Lawrence in Knightsbridge, the court was told.

The prosecution said Mr Lawrence had strangled Ms Othen and prevented her from leaving his flat in October 2022.

Mr Lawrence, 32, denied a charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

The businessman and Ms Othen had been in a relationship earlier in 2022, but were still sleeping together despite the model having a new boyfriend, Bora Guccuk, at the time, a trial at Nightingale Crown Court in Holborn has heard.

Jeweller Mr Guccuk told jurors he called Ms Othen's phone on the morning of the alleged assault because he was worried about her, but Mr Lawrence answered and threatened them both.

Mr Guccuk said: "He told me, 'she's here if you want to come and get her, I'll kill you both and stab you in the neck'.

"I could hear Chloe in the background screaming 'he's going to kill me'."

In a number of calls to police, played to the jury, Mr Guccuk said he had heard "chaotic" and "hysterical" screams from Ms Othen in the background.

Mr Guccuk told the police phone operator: "My girlfriend is being held by her ex-boyfriend against her will in his place right now, she is screaming for help."

The witness also said: "He is violent, very violent, he stalked her."

Mr Guccuk told the court Ms Othen was in a "really bad state" and "covered in bruises, bleeding and crying", claiming she did not want to go back to his house in Kensington because Mr Lawrence knew where he lived.

Tony Wyatt, defending Mr Lawrence, asked Mr Guccuk if he was jealous of the model's sexual relationship with the defendant, to which he replied: "No."

Mr Wyatt also accused Mr Guccuk of losing his temper and assaulting Ms Othen that morning, which the witness denied and said: "Absolutely ridiculous."

Mr Guccuk claimed Mr Lawrence "battered, bit and bashed" the model.

He said to the defence barrister: "The person on trial here is Ricky Lawrence, the fact you're trying to turn this on me must sound ridiculous to the jury."

The trial continues.

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