A brute has been jailed after subjecting his partner to an appalling campaign of violence, which saw him burning her with a cigarette, holding a knife to her throat and strangling her to the point that she vomited.
Terrence Urwin left his victim fearing she'd die after subjecting her to a number of attacks, during which he also threatened to pour boiling water from a kettle over her, tipped vodka, red wine, cold coffee and chilli over her head, kicked her in the back and hit her with a shoe. A court heard that, in between assaults, the 61-year-old bombarded the woman, a widow whose spouse and son had both recently died, with abusive texts and voicemails, hid her car keys and work clothes so she couldn't attend work and told her to "go an join your husband and son".
Between August and October last year, Urwin also slashed the woman's tyres, isolated her from her family, locked her out of a hotel room and posted offensive messages on Facebook. His disturbing behaviour finally came to an end when he was arrested and remanded in custody.
Urwin, of Fell View, in Crawcrook, Gateshead, has now been locked up for 44 months after he pleaded guilty to two counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and one count each of harassment and using coercive or controlling behaviour. He was also made subject of an indefinite restraining order.
Andrew Finlay, prosecuting at Newcastle Crown Court, said Urwin and the victim had known each other for a while before becoming romantically involved last year, however, the pair split before getting back together after Urwin's son died. The couple then spent a lot of time in Amble, where the victim had bought a caravan.
Mr Finlay said the relationship began to deteriorate and, on one occasion, Urwin threw chilli over his partner after he'd seen her "briefly speaking" to barman in a pub. Mr Finlay added: "On another occasion, the two went to a pub and he flirted with other women.
"When she challenged him at the caravan, he became angry and she went to the bedroom. He dragged her off the bed and kicked her to the back. It was a hard kick and he pulled his foot backwards to deliver it. She was winded. He then took a shoe from the wardrobe and hit her over the head with it. He took a cup of coffee that had cooled down and poured it over her."
The court heard that the couple returned home the following day and Urwin apologised and persuaded her to tell her friends that she'd injured her ribs by falling. However, he began to bombard the woman with abusive text messages then hid her car keys and clothes so she couldn't attend work, causing her to lose her job.
During a further incident, when the victim told Urwin their relationship was over, the brute poured a litre bottle of vodka over her, called her a horrible "c***" and left her home, taking the TV and heating remote with him. Mr Finaly continued: "She had to go to his house to get the remote control back.
"Upon her arrival, he denied having it. He assaulted her again. He burned her hand and foot with a cigarette and dragged her by her hair into the kitchen. Once there, he put the kettle on and asked if she wanted boiling water over her.
"He got a knife and held it to her throat and asked if she wanted to die. He then grabbed her by the hair and sweatshirt and threw her out the property. She genuinely thought she was going to die."
The court was told Urwin continued to bombard the woman with abusive messages, with one saying "I will decide when the storm is coming". Mr Finlay said that, because the texts were so relentless, the victim asked to meet Urwin at her caravan in order to "discuss matters".
However, Urwin launched yet another attack, this time placing his hands around her neck and squeezing so hard that she couldn't remember if she fainted or not but she did recall vomiting in a sink afterwards. The lout then poured a bottle of red wine over her.
Mr Finaly said, during the course of Urwin's campaign of violence, he also slashed her tyres, locked her out of a hotel room and told her to join her deceased husband and son. In a statement, the victim said: "He's managed to take so much away from me.
"It's impacted upon my physical and mental health to the point I thought I would be better off out of this. He took everything, including my family, my friends. He stripped me as a person and, ultimately, I thought "This man will kill me"."
Liam O'Brien, defending, said Urwin, who has 57 offences on his record, had shown genuine remorse and was now clean and sober. Mr O'Brien added: "He wants to get out of custody and make constructive use of whatever time he's got left in life. He's had his own difficulties in his life."
Jailing Urwin, Judge Christopher Prince said it was a serious and "distressing" set of offences. He added: "It's extremely frightening behaviour and it involved chocking. The offences are aggravated by your significant record."
