Ryan Wellings has been sentenced to six and a half years in prison for the assault and abuse of Kiena Dawes.
The Honorary Recorder of Preston, Judge Robert Altham, delivered the sentence at Preston Crown Court today. Although Wellings, aged 30, was acquitted of manslaughter after a six-week trial, he was convicted of domestic abuse that occurred over two years leading up to Kiena’s death by suicide in July 2022.
Kiena met Wellings through her brother in January 2020, and their relationship quickly escalated. Within a week, Wellings had tattooed Kiena’s name and face on his neck and leg.
Three months into the relationship, he proposed to her on a beach in Dorset. However, within a month, Wellings assaulted her in a fit of jealousy.
In the same year, he physically dragged her by her hair and coerced her into giving him money. While pregnant, Kiena also endured a black eye from her abusive partner, reports Lancs Live.
Wellings threatened Kiena with the loss of her child if she reported his abuse and manipulated her mental health issues to control her. On July 11, 2022, he violently slammed a door into her head, causing her to lose consciousness in their Fleetwood flat’s hallway.
Eleven days later, after leaving her daughter with a friend, Kiena tragically took her own life on a railway line near Garstang.
Kiena Dawes, 23, from Fleetwood, who was found dead by British Transport Police on the railway line near Barnacre on July 22, 2022, shortly after she was reported missing
In court today (January 16), Kiena’s mother, Angela Dawes, shared a heart-wrenching statement: “I have found it almost impossible to put into words just how big of an impact losing Kiena has been. On all her family, her beautiful baby girl and all her friends.”
“Kiena was a rare gem. She brought so much love and kindness to this world and to everyone who loved her, she was an extremely beautiful girl, and was quite truly the sweetest kindest and gentlest person I have ever known.
“Kiena is missed so much every second of every day. Her baby girl was brought to my home a few hours after Kiena was found, and has been in my full time care ever since that tragic day, and I honestly cannot put into words just how much it breaks my heart that her beautiful baby doesn’t have her Mummy here because of that monster.
“I’ll never forget the day when three CID officers came to my house shortly after I lost Kiena. And I simply said ‘Ryan Wellings killed my baby’ and I will fight for her justice.
“I truly hope that no other young lady or child has to go through what he did to my daughter and her baby. I just wish with all my heart that I could bring her back and say ‘it is okay, you’re safe now’.
“I have found it almost impossible to put into words just how big of an impact losing Kiena has been. On all her family, her beautiful baby girl and all her friends.”