For many across the country Christmas and New Year is a time of magic, fun, love and laughter as they gather with families to enjoy the festivities.
Lights on the Christmas trees sparkle as presents are exchanged, cheers echo throughout homes and food is eaten. It’s a magical time of year designed to bring joy. But for some it brings uncertainty, anxiety and fear.
Reports of domestic abuse spike during the Christmas period, with many finding themselves trapped with their abuser, often fuelled by alcohol, for days on end. Domestic abuse can affect anyone of any gender, ace, age, social background, religion or sexuality. It can happen in any kind of relationship.
Statistics show that women are more likely than men to be victims of domestic abuse, with one of four women in our country experiencing it in their lifetime.
At least one woman is killed by a partner per week nationwide.
According to Home Office figures, 851,062 domestic abuse related crimes were recorded by police forces across the country in the year up to March last year. 55,043 of them were recorded by West Yorkshire Police. Of these, only five per cent resulted in a charge or summons.
Domestic abuse related crimes can range from controlling behaviour, assaults, and in more serious cases a life can be lost. Many abusers don’t face justice, but in some cases, they are locked up by judges who sit at our courts who reiterate the importance of support for victims and their families.
In the last year, domestic abusers have been locked up at courts across Yorkshire for their crimes. We have compiled a list of them below.
Domestic violence or abuse can happen to anyone. NHS advice says if you are at risk or domestic abuse or violence you can talk to your doctor, health visitor or midwife. Women can call 0808 2000 247, the free 24-hour National Domestic Violence Helpline run in partnership between Women’s Aid and Refuge. Men can call the Men’s Advice Line free on 0808 801 0327 between Monday and Friday 9am to 5pm or ManKind on 01823 334 244.
In an emergency you should always call 999.
The Survivor’s Handbook from Women’s Aid is free and gives information on issues such as housing, money, helping children and legal rights.
Men can email info@mensadviceline.org.uk, which can refer you to places that can help, such as health services and voluntary organisations.
For forced marriage and “honour” crimes, contact Karma Nirvana (0800 5999 247) or The Forced Marriage Unit (020 7008 0151).
Galop provides support to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people experiencing domestic violence.
Anyone who needs confidential help with their own abusive behaviour can contact Respect on their free helpline on 0808 802 4040.
Calvino Barrett
Calvino Barrett
(Image: West Yorkshire Police)
Barrett was put behind bars in January after glassing his girlfriend. He threw the glass at his partner and left her needing hospital treatment following a row at their home while he was under investigation for drug offences.
He was jailed for 28 months.
Read the full story here.
Samuel Luke Boyle
Samuel Luke Boyle
(Image: West Yorkshire Police)
Jealous Boyle subjected his terrified partner to violence and abuse during their relationship – even controlling what she wore.
A court heard he would stop the woman going out with friends and would not let her wear low-cut tops or tight jeans and would “constantly” check her phone. She also said there had been too many instances of violence to count. He was jailed for two-and-a-half years.
Read the full story here.
Marcus Osborne
Monstrous Marcus Osborne will die in prison
(Image: West Yorkshire Police)
Double-killer and rapist Marcus Osborne was handed a whole-life order after he murdered Katie Higton and new partner Steven Harnett in a merciless attack at her home in Huddersfield.
Osborne, 35, lured Katie home to her address in Harpe Inge, Dalton, in the early hours of May 15 last year after she enjoyed a cinema date with Steven. He attacked her “immediately” at her front door, subjecting her to 99 separate injuries with a knife.
Read the full story here.
Darren Arnold
Darren Arnold threw a chair at his girlfriend in a violent attack
A terrified woman was forced to hide from the abuse of her partner in a pub stairway before he threw a wooden chair at her.
The woman was hiding from Darren Arnold, 40, after the pair – a couple of around two years – went to see a live band at the Cross Keys in Pontefract on January 21 last year when he accused her of “being secretive.”
Read the full story here.
Shabnam, Asgar and Khalid Sheikh
[L-R] Asgar, Shabnam and Khalid Sheikh have been jailed
(Image: West Yorkshire Police)
A husband and his parents were jailed after they left his wife in a vegetative state at their home in Huddersfield.
Ambreen Fatima Sheikh has never woken up after she fell unconscious in July 2015. An ambulance was called to the home in Clara Street, Huddersfield that she shared with her husband Asgar Sheikh, 30, father-in-law Khalid Sheikh, 55, mother-in-law Shabnam Sheikh, 53, and brother and sister-in-law Sakalayne, 24 and Shafuga Sheikh, 29.
In December it took a jury at Leeds Crown Court 10 hours and 21 minutes to deliver unanimous guilty verdicts in the case for causing or allowing a vulnerable adult to suffer serious physical harm. Only Sakalyne, was found not guilty.
The judge jailed Shabnam, Asgar and Khalid Sheikh for seven years and nine months and handed Shagufa Sheikh a sentence of 18 months, suspended for two years and Sakalayne Sheikh one of six months suspended for two years.
Read the full story here.
Hassan Hussain
Hassan Hussain has been jailed
(Image: West Yorkshire Police)
Hussain, 26, first attacked his then-partner on May 9 last year, punching her to the face, grabbing her, throwing her onto a bed. He then strangled her for the first of a number of times.
Prosecutor Benjamin Whittingham told Bradford Crown Court that on June 2, Hussain, of Northside Road in Bradford, turned violent again when the woman “wouldn’t let him go through her phone.”
His Honour Judge Burn jailed Hussain for 42 months, less the time he has already spent on remand. He also made him the subject of a 20-year restraining order, prohibiting him from contacting the victim.
Read the full story here.
Joseph Valvona
Joseph Valvona
(Image: West Yorkshire Police)
A Huddersfield woman “fought for her life” as she was stabbed eight times by her boyfriend in a jealous rage.
The woman had picked up violent thug Joseph Valvona, 26, from his night out in Huddersfield on September 9 last year and the couple made their way home. Prosecutor Ian Cook told Leeds Crown Court that they had been in a relationship for two years and were living together at the time of the horrific and frenzied attack.
His Honour Judge Tom Bayliss KC made Valvona the subject of a restraining order, until further order. He handed him an extended sentence of ten-and-a-half-years, made up of seven-and-a-half-years in custody and an extended licence period of three years.
Read the full story here.
Leon Andrews
A woman bravely recorded the attacks committed by Leon Andrews
(Image: West Yorkshire Police)
Violent Andrews was locked up after he whipped his then-partner with an iPhone cable and attacked her when there was no toilet paper.
The judge explained that Andrews’ guilty pleas meant that a 30-month sentence could be reduced to two years.
Recorder Palmer also made Andrews subject to a five-year restraining order which bans him from contacting the complainant or going to any address where he knows or reasonably believes she is living.
Read the full story here.
Samuel Hemingway
Samuel Hemingway
(Image: West Yorkshire Police)
A drugged-up Hemingway, who cut off part of his own right ear and then used the bloodied piece of flesh to scrawl a message in the hallway outside his former partner’s flat, was jailed for 16 months in March.
When his ex returned to her home she found the severed piece of ear on her dressing table, but Bradford Crown Court heard that the 24-year-old denied he had left it in her bedroom.
Prosecutor Nicola Hoskins said the incident last November left the woman feeling scared, numb and petrified.
Read the full story here.
Lisa Ellwood
Lisa Ellwood
(Image: West Yorkshire Police)
Ellwood, 40, attacked her husband Ryan after they had been out celebrating her birthday in Wakefield on August 29 last year. A bar supervisor told how he had served her six strong cocktails containing vodka, gin, barcadi and tequila as the couple socialised in The Blind Pig.
Ellwood was captured on CCTV and just nine minutes later an ambulance was called to the family home in Greenwood Court, Wakefield. Ryan had been stabbed with a knife that had pierced his rib, lung and aorta, but it was not the first incident where Ellwood had turned violent.
Read the full story here.
Callum Barker
Callum Barker has been jailed
(Image: West Yorkshire Police)
Evil Huddersfield man Barker got himself “tanked up” in the pub before going to his ex-girlfriend’s home and strangling her so hard she could not breathe.
He turned violent when he became suspicious over another man and told her “I don’t care if you can’t breathe” during the terrifying attack.
Barker was jailed for two years and three months.
Read the full story here.
Isaac Greaves
Isaac Greaves
(Image: SYP)
Doncaster thug Greaves held his ex-girlfriend hostage in a hotel for two days and threatened to “smash her head off the wall” and strangled her.
He was wanted by police as he ordered the victim to meet him at a hotel in West Yorkshire. It was there he turned violent and the woman’s ordeal only came to an end when Greaves left with a friend. He was arrested and taken into custody after his victim bravely disclosed to a doctor what had happened to her.
He was jailed for three years and nine months.
Read the full story here.
Billy Pryce
Billy Pryce has been locked up after attacking his girlfriend on Christmas Day
(Image: West Yorkshire Police)
Jealous Pryce attacked his girlfriend with a gas cannister in a horrific Christmas Day attack after spotting her using her phone. Just a number of days later, he attacked again, punching the woman to the face.
He was jailed for those two attacks, as well as a third, in April and was handed a sentence of two years.
Read the full story here.
Jamie Ross
Jamie ross bombarded his ex-girlfriend with calls and texts
(Image: West Yorkshire Police)
“Besotted” stalker Ross was locked up for more than two years and issued a lifetime restraining order after he bombarded his ex-girlfriend with calls and texts.
Ross, 34, also went on to assault her new boyfriend in the street. In July last year Ross was locked up by magistrates for 12 weeks for harassing the same woman and assaulting her, but despite the justices imposing a three-year restraining order his stalking of her began again within a few weeks of being released.
Read the full story here.
Luke Prentice
Luke Prentice
(Image: West Yorkshire Police)
Vicious thug Prentice, 34, pretended to throw acid in his girlfriend’s face after she left him.
He had previously strangled the woman – who was 17 when they became a couple. It was said that following their breakup on December 21 last year, the victim and her friend were walking when they saw Prentice, of Windermere Drive, Knottingley, on a bicycle. Mr Ahad said: “He put his hand inside his coat and pulled out a bottle – which looked like a bleach bottle. He came to the right of her and squeezed the bottle, trying to spray over her body.”
The women managed to get away and Prentice posted on his Facebook page: “[The victims’ names] thought it would be a good idea to come to my house. Bad idea. Never seen two girls run as quick.”
His Honour Judge Tom Bayliss KC at Leeds Crown Court said he found Prentice had intended his ex-partner to fear he had thrown a corrosive liquid. He jailed Prentice for 27 months.
Read the full story here.
John Bagnall
John Bagnall has been jailed
(Image: South Yorkshire Police)
Thug Bagnall dragged his girlfriend around her house and subjected her to a terrifying attack. Despite the woman asking Bagnall to stop messaging her and that she had met someone else before agreeing to meet him so he could collect his belongings.
While doing that, Bagnall dragged her inside the property and viciously attacked her. He was jailed for 18 months.
Read the full story here.
Kovi Lee
Kovi Lee
(Image: West Yorkshire Police)
Controlling Lee subjected his ex-partner to a violent attack after spotting a message from another man on her phone.
Lee “snatched” the phone and “went through its contents” before biting it and hitting the woman and pulling her hair. He went on to stamp her and tell her he “wanted to kill her.” A horrified neighbour called the police after seeing Lee put the woman in a headlock. Officers arrived and later found Lee in possession of a knife.
He was jailed for two years.
Read the full story here.
Bradley Long
Bradley Long is finally behind bars
(Image: West Yorkshire Police)
Thug Long was finally put behind bars in August after being subject to two previous suspended sentences – despite continuously strangling his partner. The last straw for the courts came when Long applied and released pressure to the woman’s neck for an hour after punching and biting her in another attack.
He was jailed for three years.
Read the full story here.
Ijaz Saeed
Ijaz Saeed has been locked up
(Image: West Yorkshire Police)
Domestic abuser Ijaz Saeed, 40, was jailed for 40 months after he controlled what his partner wore, who she had on her social media and where she went during his campaign of restraint and terror over her. Saeed of Moorside Avenue in Huddersfield, beat her on two separate occasions – one where he refused to take her to hospital and after the second told her to leave their home, which led to her sleeping in the woods.
Read the full story here.
Lee Lindley
Lee Lindley has been locked up
(Image: South Yorkshire Police)
Lee Lindley, 28, from Doncaster was jailed for 21 months after he was in court for a terrifying assault which saw him hit out at his partner after she refused to let him drive her car. Lindley was not insured to drive but was arguing with the woman in February last year.
Read the full story here.
Tavian Sutton
Tavien Sutton
(Image: West Yorkshire Police)
Violent chef Sutton subjected his partner to “disgraceful” domestic violence. He was jailed for more than five years for his offending after he moved into the woman’s home earlier this year.
Bradford Crown Court heard the couple had constant arguments and Sutton assaulted the woman for the first time within weeks. A month later he threatened to “smash her face in” and “boot her in the face” during another row. The woman described being “booted in the face” by Sutton with full force and her nose and lips bleeding heavily.
The court heard that Sutton could be heard screaming and shouting in the background during a 999 call and the attack was also heard by a neighbour. Sutton was released under investigation and the relationship continued. During another incident, he victim had to curl up on a bed as he repeatedly punched her and she vaguely remembered Sutton standing over her and stamping on her head.
Sutton then sat on the bed and said he was going to kill her with a knife and stab himself in the face. When Sutton later fell asleep the woman was able to call 999 and was taken by ambulance to hospital.
A CT scan later revealed bleeding on her brain and the court heard she had also suffered a broken nose.
Read the full story here.
William Foley
William Foley swung a knife at his ex-partner after kicking her door in
(Image: West Yorkshire Police)
Foley kicked his ex-partner’s door in and threatened her with a knife and was later found hiding from police on a neighbour’s trampoline.
William Foley, 25, went to the woman’s home on August 3 this year after seeing she had posted something on her Snapchat account. She later contacted police to say he had gone to her address and kicked her door down, causing it to come off its hinges before threatening her with a knife.
He was later found in her neighbour’s garden on a trampoline. He was later jailed for 21 months.
Read the full story here.
Mason Ward
Mason Ward
(Image: West Yorkshire Police)
Pontefract thug Ward left his girlfriend with a fractured eye socket following a terrifying attack. He had turned on the woman twice on March 7 last year following arguments they had at her home.
During one incident, he kicked her to the floor and grabbed her around the neck. She reported t the police that he was not strangling her but scratching her neck and squeezing her jaw and pulling her hair. He later pounced again by “grabbing her by the throat and throwing her on the sofa.”
He was jailed for 27 months.
Read the full story here.
Ingus Galaskis
Ingus Galaskis
(Image: West Yorkshire Police)
Galaskis was jailed for an aggressive knife attack on his partner where the knife broke after he stabbed her “again and again.” He was found not guilty of attempted murder following a trial but had already admitted wounding causing grievous bodily harm and was jailed for 10 years.
Read the full story here.
Ben Swindells
Ben Swindells has been jailed for 23 years
Thug Swindells was jailed after he kicked his ex-partner in the head repeatedly and then paused to smoke a cig before smashing her head on the floor. He was spotted by a witness outside a Tesco Express in Wakefield and reported to police.
Officers found Swindells cradling the victim in his arms. She was unconscious and as officers pulled him away he started ranting ‘kill me, just kill me’ He also said he had not done anything and loved her but then also said he would kill her. He was jailed for 23 years with an extended licence period of four years for attempted murder.
Read the full story here.
Laurence Ward
Laurence Ward has been jailed for three years and four months for killing his wife
Evil Ward stabbed and killed his wife Joanne at their home in Rotherham before walking to a relative’s to confess.
He stabbed Joanne through the chest during an argument on June 21 this year .After doing so, Ward, who was also seriously injured, went to a relative’s home where he confessed to stabbing his wife and told them he feared he had killed her. He later told police he left her to die because he was in a state of “shock and panic.”
Police were called to the address at 5.53pm and found Joanne in her living room with fatal injuries. Tragically, paramedics declared her dead at the scene. He was jailed for manslaughter for three years and four months.
Read the full story here.
Kristafa Spencer
Kristafa Spencer
(Image: West Yorkshire Police)
Thug Spencer told his ex-partner she would meet the same fate as Huddersfield murder victim Katie Higton before swinging a baseball bat at her in her own home.
He sent the sick messages after being made the subject of a non-molestation order put in place to protect her from him.
Spencer was jailed for three years.
Read the full story here.
Vincent Morgan
Vincent Morgan, 45, went to his neighbour Raymond Whitwells home in North Yorkshire offering to carry out gardening work but had a very different enterprise in mind
(Image: North Yorkshire Police / SWNS)
Evil Morgan was handed a life sentence with a minimum term of 20 years for the murder of his partner, Lisa Welford.
Morgan seriously assaulted Lisa before drowning her in the River Derwent in Malton in April this year. He was subject to a Domestic Violence Protection Order at the time. He faced a jury and lied to it, saying that Lisa had jumped into the water. However, Lisa was taken to hospital and it was found she was suffering from head injuries, a bleed on the brain, fractured ribs, a fractured collar bone and a severely fractured femur.
She died a day later and Morgan has now faced justice.
Read the full story here.
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