Man who abused mum before she took own life jailed

A father-of-three who psychologically and physically abused his vulnerable partner before she took her own life has been jailed for six-and-a-half years.

Fleetwood hairdresser Kiena Dawes was 23 when she died on a railway line in Lancashire on 22 July 2022.

The mother-of-one left a note on her mobile phone claiming she was “was murdered” and that her boyfriend, 30-year-old Ryan Wellings, was a “monster and a bully” who had “killed” her.

Wellings was cleared of her manslaughter by a jury at Preston Crown Court but convicted of assault and coercive and controlling behaviour relating to the abuse she suffered during her life.

The assault charge, the court heard, referred to two weeks before her death when Wellings slammed a door into Miss Dawes head at their flat in Fleetwood, knocking her unconscious and leaving her covered in blood.

The attack happened in the presence of their screaming baby daughter.

Wellings was jailed for six years for the abuse of Miss Dawes, and an additional six months for an unrelated assault on his friend, a man called Scott Fletcher.

Miss Dawes’ mother, Angela Dawes, read a statement in court ahead of sentencing in which she described how his baby daughter had been “exposed to and experienced extreme domestic abuse and violence against her mummy”.

The victim’s brother, Kynan Dawes, also read a victim impact statement which said: “The world now knows what a monster he is.”

Wellings, a landscape gardener from Bispham in Lancashire, had previously been convicted of “battering” an ex-girlfriend before he met Miss Dawes, and also had convictions for burglary and criminal damage going back to his teenage years.

Paul Greaney KC, prosecuting, told the judge that although the jury did not convict Wellings of manslaughter, the court should sentence him on the basis his coercive abuse of Miss Dawes “set the scene for her death”.

“Kiena was caused to feel – on many occasions – serious alarm and distress,” he said.

“This had a substantial effect on her and caused her significant psychological harm.”

During his trial the prosecution had outlined how Wellings initially “swept Miss Dawes off her feet” when they met in January 2020.

Over the next two-and-a-half years, however, he was frequently violent including punching, strangling and dragging his partner to the floor.

Wellings had given Miss Dawes a black-eye while she was pregnant, and attacked her in front of children.

In notes on her phone detailing the abuse, Miss Dawes said on one occasion he had held her head underwater in her daughter’s baby bath, and on another had brandished an electric drill and warned he would “drill the teeth out of my mouth”.

Other terrifying threats including to scar her face with acid, and that if she reported him to police her baby would be taken away due to her mental health condition.

However John Jones KC, defending Wellings, argued that the relationship was not completely characterised by abuse.

“It’s wrong to say the coercive and controlling relationship was in existence throughout,” he said.

“There were good and bad times.”

Sentencing Wellings, Judge Robert Altham, the Honorary Recorder of Preston, branded the defendant “a clear danger to any partner” who had “shown no remorse”.

“Kiena Dawes was a popular, vivacious, friendly young woman,” he said.

“She had history of mental illness. Through no fault of hers, she was vulnerable to abuse and exploitation.”

Judge Altham described how Wellings followed a “pattern of assaulting and mistreating her and promising to change, only to do it again”.

“You disparaged her appearance and said her dead father would be ashamed of her, that she was fat and ugly and incompetent at her work”, he added.

Wellings smiled as he was taken down to the cells.

Angela Dawes earlier told the court she would raise her granddaughter, describing it as an “honour and a privilege”.

“[The child] has already asked me where her mummy is, I found it impossible to answer that question,” she said.

Campaign group Advocacy After Fatal Domestic Abuse called for changes in the law to increase the maximum sentence for coercive and controlling behaviour and make it easier to bring manslaughter charges.

Speaking after the sentencing hearing, one of its advocates, Marie, said: “Although nothing is going to bring Kiena back, nothing is going to bring that little girl her mummy back, there are huge changes that need to be made in the law.”

Marie said in her experience the number of deaths where domestic abuse was a factor in someone taking their own life was beginning to overtake the number of domestic violence homicides.

“Decision makers need to sit up and listen to what’s happened today and what needs to be done moving forwards to protect victims of domestic abuse,” she added.