A courageous mother-of-three who endured years of brutal abuse at the hands of her violent ex-partner has spoken out for the first time – bravely sharing gruesome pictures of the violence inflicted upon her.
Holly Bolsover, 33, suffered a 12-year reign of terror at the hands of thug Conar Shaw, 33, who beat, strangled and emotionally tortured her throughout their relationship – even in front of their children.
The monster, from Dinnington, South Yorkshire, broke Holly’s jaw, choked her, and chillingly threatened to throw acid in her face ‘so no-one else would ever want her’.
Shaw was jailed for two and a half years at Derby Crown Court in 2023 before being let out under Labour’s early release scheme.
The trauma he inflicted on beautician Holly left her unable to speak about her ordeal until now.
Speaking to Mail Online to empower other women to escape toxic and abusive relationships, she said: ‘I will be an advocate for woman out there that haven’t got a voice and who are trapped like I was.
‘I know I’m in the right mindset to do that. I want to be that woman who tells others: you can get out. Because at the time, you just can’t see a way out – you’re stuck in it.’
Holly was just 18 when she met Shaw, who was the same age. But their early attraction quickly spiralled into violence and control.
In one horrifying attack, Shaw tried to drown her in the bath. In another, he broke her jaw so badly that the bone was visible, requiring hundreds of internal stitches and the insertion of a metal plate.
She said: ‘It was toxic from the start.
‘It wouldn’t just be a smack, it’d be black eyes, bruises, cuts, or the house would get smashed up.
‘I could never have anything nice in the house. If he knew that I had bought it, he’d smash it up because he knew I liked it.’
In one terrifying episode, Holly recalled desperately holding a bedroom door shut while Shaw, armed with a serrated kitchen knife, tried to force his way in.
‘He stabbed the door. I was on the other side watching the knife come through – like a scene from a horror film,’ she said.
‘The kids were with me in the bedroom screaming and crying. He sliced his fingers and ended up in hospital, but lied to everyone about how it happened.’
In another attack, Shaw dragged her to the floor by her hood and strangled her in front of their young daughter, who was hit as she tried to intervene.
Holly said: ‘She ended up with a bloody nose, blood all over her face. And he didn’t stop. I was screaming, “Look what you’re doing to her!” and he just kept going.’
Shaw played mind games so effectively that Holly often retracted police statements out of fear she would lose her children.
She added: ‘I was being blackmailed constantly. He’d say, “If you tell anyone, I’ll get the kids taken off you.”
‘I believed it – I thought no-one would believe me so I kept my mouth shut.’
The violence reached such extremes that at one point, when Holly’s phone was off, friends and family feared she had been killed after confusing her for a victim in a nearby murder case.
‘People were turning up at my house in tears thinking I was dead. That’s how bad it had got.
‘Everyone used to say, “You’re going to end up in a box.” And honestly, they weren’t wrong.’
In 2023, Shaw was jailed for just two and a half years after admitting two counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
He served barely over a year behind bars before being released with a lifetime restraining order.
The court heard how police were called to an argument in a car outside their home where Holly ended up in hospital with serious injuries to her head and face.
Their young daughter told police he was punching her mum so hard the car was shaking.
The other assault admitted by Shaw in court happened after Holly ended the relationship and he hunted her down after telling their daughter: ‘I’m going to put your mum in A&E.’
She said: ‘He just walked up and punched me. After he’d finished beating me up, he spat on me and walked off.’
Holly condemned Shaw’s sentence as ‘absolutely disgraceful’ and said she feared he would breach his restraining order to find her and her children.
Claiming Shaw also once stabbed their pet dog Rascal in a furious rage, she added: ‘That sentence barely scratched the surface of what he did.
‘Women are fleeing homes, families, their whole lives – and the men walk away with barely any consequence.
‘People get more time for drug offences.
‘I still have nightmares now that he will suddenly turn up.’
Today, Holly is safe and rebuilding her life in South Yorkshire. She has met a new partner, entrepreneur Jack, 31, to whom she is engaged. Last year, the couple welcomed a baby boy.
She said: ‘I am a complete different woman to what I was then and now I know what a healthy relationship is.
‘I thought what I was going through was normal – I just thought that this is what my life is.
‘I have never known a love like in my relationship now. I now know how a real man is supposed to treat a woman.
‘He shows me and the children how life should be lived and gives them the childhood they deserve.’
After posting her graphic injuries on Facebook, Holly said she was contacted by other women trapped in abusive relationships.
She said: ‘They say the same things I used to say. One girl had me in tears.
‘I just kept saying, “I’m not judging you. I’ve been there. But you need to tell social services. You need to get help.”
‘These men, they make you believe you’re worthless. They make you believe you’re going to lose your kids. It’s awful.
‘I will show women you can get out – you’re not alone and I am living proof that you can get out.’
Shaw admitted two counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and was jailed for two and a half years at Derby Crown Court.
Detective Constable Kate Morrell, who led the investigation, said at the time: ‘The survivor lived in fear of Shaw for years and still struggles with the mental and physical trauma of what he inflicted on her.
‘No-one should have to live like that and so I’m pleased Shaw is now behind bars for his crimes.
‘I hope this sentence can help her start to move forward and look to the future.’