An abusive wife has been jailed after making her loving husband’s life a ‘misery’ through a ‘grotesque’ campaign of violence and attacks.
Helen Thornton, 45, repeatedly beat him with a rolling pin and on one occasion went so far as stabbing him with the sharp metal point of an electric toothbrush, causing at least one puncture wound.
Her husband, who had made every effort to ‘love and support her’, eventually summoned the courage to report her following the years-long torturous regime of violence and coercive behaviour.
Hull Crown Court heard the man suffered abuse and attacks ‘almost night after night’.
And it didn’t stop with just the physical assaults. Thornton, of Grimsby, Lincolnshire, would try to control and intimidate him, attempting to ‘instill fear’ that violence could be used against him.
The cruel woman even threatened to make false and damaging allegations against him, pushing him to feel he had no choice but to begin recording conversations in an attempt to protect himself.
But beyond the case itself, the most heartbreaking thing was what the husband, who has been married to Thornton for 19 years, said to a reporter at Grimsby Live following the hearing.
While he did not wish to comment extensively, his few words were powerful enough.
‘I just don’t want her to hurt anyone else,’ he said outside the court.
The man was subjected to abuse and assaults almost daily from Thornton, who had denied two offences of assault causing actual bodily harm and another of controlling and coercive behaviour.
She had been remanded in custody from before the trial after she repeatedly breached her bail conditions, and was convicted at a hearing at Grimsby Crown Court in November last year.
At a sentencing hearing at Hull Crown Court, judge John Thackray KC told of how Thornton, a former telephonist at BT, had displayed controlling and coercive behaviour by ‘instilling fear’ in her husband that she could use violence against him.
It was said this happened on at least two occasions between 2016 and last year.
Last February her husband was left suffering serious bruises after she beat him repeatedly with a rolling pin.
In 2018, police were called to about an assault but the man decided not to take the matter further. The incident involved him being stabbed with the sharp side of an electric toothbrush.
The judge also warned that the fact that she was a woman did not make the case any less serious and the only appropriate punishment was a custodial sentence.
He said: ‘You made his life a misery and it’s not less serious because it was committed in a domestic setting, it’s more serious because it involved a breach of trust.
‘Your husband was entitled to feel safe and secure in his home and in the company of his wife.
She even threatened to make false allegations against him which could have damaged his career.
The judge continued: ‘You caused injuries on many occasions and made his life a misery.
‘He feared that you might make false allegations against him.
‘You would shout and abuse him. This is a very serious case of its kind.
‘It’s not less serious because you are a female.
‘That doesn’t make any difference whatsoever.
‘It’s persistent behaviour over a long period and it has had a profound effect upon your victim. It took him a long time to report you for this behaviour.
‘Eventually, he summoned the courage to report you and he bravely gave evidence against you.’
While her husband has started divorce proceedings, the couple of 19 years are still legally married.
Thornton had been held in custody at New Hall Prison, near Wakefield, and has now been sentenced to two years in prison and given a 10-year restraining order.
John Dunning, mitigating, said that she had been on remand for more than eight months and that alcoholism clearly played a role in the abusive behaviour.
Speaking of the husband, judge Thackray KC spoke of how his ‘love and support’ toward Thornton was abused in the most ‘grotesque’ way.
‘He was very much in love with you for a long time but you abused that love in a most grotesque way night after night. You abused and assaulted your husband, who did his best to love and support you in every way possible.
‘The offences are so serious that only a custodial sentence can be justified. Only appropriate punishment can be achieved by way of an immediate custodial sentence.’