Ryan Wellings returns to court today to be sentenced for ABH and coercive and controlling behaviour towards his partner Kiena Dawes.
Wellings, 30, was cleared of manslaughter following a six-week trial. However the jury found him guilty of domestic abuse over a two-year period before Kiena’s death by suicide in July 2022.
Kiena met Wellings through her brother in January 2020 and a their relationship developed quickly. Within a week, Wellings had Kiena’s name and face tattooed on his neck and leg. Three months later he proposed to her on a beach in Dorset.
Within weeks of meeting Kiena, Ryan Wellings had her name tattooed on his neck
(Image: Twitter/X)
Kiena, 23, told friends it was her “fairytale ending” but the fairytale soon became a nightmare for the lovestruck hairdresser. A month after the proposal Wellings assaulted her in a jealous rage about a pair of Jimmy Choo shoes.
Later the same year he dragged her by her hair and demanded money from her bank account. While pregnant with their baby daughter, Kiena suffered a black eye at the hands of her abusive partner.
Ryan Wellings, 30, was found guilty of assault and prolonged domestic violence towards his partner, 23-year-old Kiena Dawes
He went on to make threats that he would throw acid in her face, drill her teeth out with a power drill and throw her father’s ashes down the toilet. On one occasion she said he pushed her head into the baby bath saying: “Say goodbye to your baby.”
He told Kiena her child would be taken away from her if she reported his abuse and used her mental health struggles against her. On July 11, 2022, he slammed a door into her head causing her to black out in the hallway of their flat in Fleetwood.
Kiena Dawes was left covered in blood after Ryan Wellings assaulted her on July 11, 2022
(Image: Lancs Police)
When she came round, Kiena’s head was covered in blood and she had pain in her neck and ribs. Their eight-month-old daughter was crying on the sofa but Kiena felt unable to pick her up as she was covered in blood. As she shouted from a window for Wellings’ help, he told her she was to blame and left in a taxi.
On July 22, Kiena dropped her daughter off with a friend and ended her life on a railway line near Garstang. She said she had been bullied and tortured by Wellings and asked that her daughter was protected from ‘the monster who is called her dad.’
Today, Wellings will be sentenced for the offences he was found guilty of carrying out towards Kiena. This is a live blog. Scroll down for updates on the hearing.