A woman who was nearly killed when her ex-boyfriend throttled her and put a plastic bag over her head has revealed her painful battle to regain a normal life.
James Riley, 28, was jailed for 16 years on Friday for attempted murder, after what a judge told him was a ‘brutal and determined’ two-minute attempt on academic Ellie Moxham’s life.
The former Lancashire Police officer flew into a ‘jealous’ rage on November 10, 2022, leaving Ms Moxham, then aged 24, with a long-lasting brain injury from oxygen deprivation, Manchester Crown Court heard.
Ms Moxham, in a victim impact statement obtained by , has now shared how Riley’s ‘coercive behaviour’ and the ‘traumatic’ assault left her struggling with anxiety, night terrors, headaches, problems trusting others, and more.
The Lancaster University PhD students said the ‘past year has been a nightmare’ and she now lives in ‘constant fear of another attack’.
However, Ms Moxham noted that despite the physical and emotional turmoil she battles as a result of the ‘terrible’ assault, she has ‘real closure’ now that Riley has been jailed.
James Riley, 28, (pictured) was jailed for 16 years on Friday for attempted murder, after what a ‘brutal and determined’ two-minute attempt on academic Ellie Moxham’s life
Ellie Moxham, (pictured leaving Manchester Crown Court yesterday) in a victim impact statement obtained by , has now shared how Riley’s ‘coercive behaviour’ and the ‘traumatic’ assault left her struggling with anxiety, night terrors, headaches, problems trusting others, and more
Riley assaulted Moxham at a Premier Inn on November 10, 2022. After fleeing the hoel, Riley spent 11 minutes on the phone to his parents (pictured) – telling them ‘I’ve killed Ellie’ – before eventually calling an ambulance then fleeing the scene to ‘save his own skin’
Riley launched his attack on Ms Moxham in 2022 after she was ‘persuaded’ to go to a Sigrid concert in Manchester which the former couple had booked some months earlier, and stay the night in a Premier Inn hotel.
Riley was hoping to ‘rekindle’ their relationship, which began when they were both undergraduate students at Lancaster University years earlier, but attacked Ms Moxham with ‘murderous intent’, after she texted her new partner Alex Gough.
She was initially put into an induced coma and spent a day in intensive care. The assault followed ‘a history of jealousy, abuse or coercive behaviour’, the court heard.
Ms Moxham, who is continuing her environmental studies PhD and is also a lecturer, read a victim impact statement from behind a curtain on Friday, telling the hearing how she is still suffering from the attack 14 months on.
She appeared tearful after addressing the court, when she said: ‘The task of putting into words how that terrible night has impacted my life seems impossible.’
The brain injury had left her with a ‘cognitive fatigue which affects me daily’, she recalled – having to take three naps a day, falling behind with her doctorate and having difficulties with her memory.
She told the court: ‘I have had to seek medical help to deal with the anxiety and process what has happened as it has started to impact my daily life.
‘Since the assault, I cannot focus on my work for long, I find I can’t remember things that previously I would have been able to recall easily, I get frequent headaches that can sometimes only be helped by taking 3 naps a day, and I get anxious.’
Ms Moxham (pictured outside Manchester Crown Court yesterday) read a victim impact statement from behind a curtain on Friday, telling the hearing how she is still suffering from the attack 14 months on
Riley, pictured on CCTV, is seen at an ATM after the attack. Mxoham, in her victim statement, said Riley’s crime was ‘so violent and extreme in nature’ that she is now distrustful of others, claiming the assault ‘has made me question people’s intentions’
CCTV footage revealed Riley’s movements after the incident, highlighting his intention to evade capture by making two £250 cash transactions from different ATMs and getting rid of his mobile phone to ensure he could not be tracked
As a result, Ms Moxham said she has had to take days off of work, which is ‘impacting me financially’, and needed to request multiple extensions on her PhD ‘just so I stand any chance of finishing it without my funding running out’.
She described how she battles ‘insomnia’ and will often be ‘up all-night worrying’ about the criminal investigation and finances, as well as processing the assault.
‘I have struggled with getting to sleep. When I do manage to get to sleep, I have terrible night terrors,’ Ms Moxham recalled. ‘Although I count myself as extremely fortunate that I cannot remember anything about that night, I frequently have terrifying nightmares in which I am being attacked, strangled, and suffocated.’
The PhD student added that Riley’s crime was ‘so violent and extreme in nature’ that she is now distrustful of others, claiming the assault ‘has made me question people’s intentions’.
‘I find it hard to trust due to the sense of betrayal, and I constantly find myself questioning why someone would want to get to know me as I’m unable to be loved and worthless,’ she said in her statement.
Ms Moxham also told of her anguish at how Riley neglected to ‘show remorse’ and had ‘dragged out’ the court process, initially admitting causing grievous bodily harm with intent and only pleading guilty to attempted murder last November.
‘Whilst I am beyond happy that this never went to trial and my personal life was not put out for public consumption, I feel a sense of anger that [Riley] has gotten away with people not knowing the true nature of the crime he committed,’ she said.
‘There are so many unanswered questions in my mind about what truly happened that night and the events leading up to it, things that only he will know, and now I will just have to get on with the not knowing.
‘By pleading guilty at the last minute, he has stopped me ever getting that closure of getting all the details of what happened to me. This past year has been a nightmare, and I’ll now never get answers to my questions, so he’s kept some control there.’
The court was told how the attack happened soon after Riley and Ms Moxham entered the bedroom just after 11pm. Riley is pictured on CCTV footage
Judge Field said Riley was ‘acting to save his own skin’ by fleeing and ‘abandoning Ellie’, who the paramedic judged to have a life-threatening brain injury
Even after his arrest and while on remand, she said Riley ‘used the house we owned together to subject me to financial abuse’.
She had wanted to sell the house ‘to obtain my share as soon as possible’ – but she said Riley’s parents told her they would instead buy her out.
But this did not happen and, when Riley was later sacked and his pay stopped, she was left with responsibility for the mortgage, forcing her into debt and ruining her credit rating to the point she could not even take out a mobile phone contract.
Ms Moxham added when Riley’s parents arranged for the contents to be sold, they took away furniture including a mirror given to her by her aunt which she had wanted to keep.
Despite the turmoil she has faced, Ms Moxham has taken steps to ‘get my life back on track’.
She has continued working, started renting a house with some friends and is pursuing therapy to ‘help me manage the anxiety and process the past relationship so I can move forwards in a healthy way’.
She told the court that she does not ‘want to be defined by this’ situation, which has ‘felt hugely invasive’ and forced her to ‘disclose private life details to total strangers’, such as investigators, doctors and victim services.
‘It is, however, important to me that my statement ends on a hopeful note – I got away from something terrible and I have had so many moments of joy and happiness in the past year, despite everything hanging over me,’ she concluded.
‘I have learnt so much about myself and I am much stronger for it. I hope today is real closure for me and a chance to try to properly put all this behind me.’
CCTV captured James Riley (pictured) at a store in the moments after he attacked his ex-girlfriend Ellie Moxham
Riley is pictured on CCTV after he attacked Ms Moxham, who said in her victim statement that the ‘past year has been a nightmare’ and she now lives in ‘constant fear of another attack’
Riley launched his attack on Ms Moxham in 2022 after she was ‘persuaded’ to go to a Sigrid concert in Manchester which the former couple had booked some months earlier, and stay the night at a Premier Inn in Manchester (file photo of the hotel)
Riley strangled Ms Moxham on November 10, 2022 and left her unconscious on a Manchester city centre hotel room floor as he phoned for an ambulance.
She was rushed to hospital and placed in an induced coma before she regained consciousness the following day.
On Friday, Riley, from Preston, Lancashire, was jailed at Manchester Crown Court for 16 years after he pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to attempted murder.
Riley, who was off-duty at the time of the incident was dismissed by his employers, Lancashire Constabulary, last year.
The couple had been in a relationship for several years and bought a house together in 2021, but it was effectively at an end by the date of the offence.
Ms Moxham had no memory of the assault, but Judge Patrick Field KC said during sentencing it was ‘clear’ that Riley ‘gripped her throat and strangled her with such force over a significant period that her brain was starved of oxygen’.
This caused her to lose consciousness, he said, and to suffer profound injuries which has led to continuing cognitive difficulties.
James Riley, (pictured) from Preston, Lancashire, was jailed at Manchester Crown Court for 16 years on Friday after he pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to attempted murder. He was due to go on trial last November but changed his plea to guilty a week before
Judge Field told Riley: ‘To your discredit – once you realised Ms Moxham was indeed very seriously injured and in need of expert medical assistance – your first reaction seems to have been to call your parents to speak to them for about 11 minutes before, almost as an afterthought, calling for an ambulance.
‘You also abandoned Ms Moxham at the scene in an effort to save your own skin.
‘While I accept this was not a pre-meditated attack and you acted spontaneously, this was nevertheless a brutal and determined attempt to kill your former partner.’
Riley, of Jepps Avenue, Barton, was due to go on trial last November but changed his plea to guilty a week before.