A young mum spiralled into a cycle of violence in the run up to a brutal assault on her own aunt.
Danielle Shaw stamped on her aunt's hands and dragged her across the floor in the culmination of a violent campaign that left her victim so hopeless that she tried to take her own life.
The mother-of-one took advantage of her aunt's hospitality when she gave her somewhere to live after she was released from prison, subjecting her to threats and cruelty.
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She was sent to jail for two years and five months earlier this week after one particular attack which saw her aunt flee the house
While Shaw was only convicted for one count of unlawful wounding , Liverpool Crown Court heard that offence had been preceded by weeks of escalating violence.
She would push and shove her aunt, who lives with a number of health conditions including early onset dementia, and taunt and threaten her.
Eventually, she started to hit her, leaving her with bruises and marks that Shaw would tell her to cover up.
Even before the run up to this offence, the 31-year-old was convicted of a number of other violent offences.
The mother-of-one has a slew of previous convictions stretching back to 2009.
She was involved in an affray twelve years ago and then, after a break in offending, she committed a number of violent offences in just a few years.
In 2016, a court found her guilty of abusive behaviour and possession of a knife.
In 2019 she assaulted a police officer in Lancashire and last year she was sent to jail after assaulting someone else.
However, despite her previous convictions, the judge in her case said there was little to suggest that Shaw would engage in such a cruel and prolonged attack on a member of her own family.
Recorder Imran Shafi, QC, said the way that Shaw behaved towards her aunt was hard to comprehend.
He said: "What your frustration would be, I find hard to understand.
"Your situation was no different to millions of people in this country. You were living in lockdown.
"You had also been given a place to stay by your aunt."
