A man whose controlling behaviour surfaced soon after moving in with his partner of only a few months also turned violent towards her in times of “frustration”.

Durham Crown Court heard that Paul Wright only met the woman in May last year and, after pestering her, had moved in with her by September.

Becky Jane, prosecuting, said signs of his controlling character emerged with him telling her what to eat, denying her from having a Covid injection, telling her where to drive him to and from, and limiting the time she was allowed to have the heating switched on.

Miss Jane said the first violence came towards the end of last year when the defendant became “frustrated” and she told him to calm down.

The Northern Echo: Paul Wright, given a three-year prison sentence at Durham Crown Court

He responded by forcibly grabbing hold of her, after which she asked him to leave, but he did not move out.

When she later complained of having a mouth infection he told her to go outside and stand in the snow.

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It reached the stage where she felt she needed to go to hospital and as she left to go, he pushed her in the chest and told her she caused him to behave in that manner.

He grabbed her around the neck and told her she had “wound him up”.

Wright then told her to cover her neck because of the bruising he had caused.

When he told her to take him for a job interview with a taxi firm, she took the chance to tell a member of staff that she needed help.

It resulted in Wright being arrested and when later given bail, it was on condition he was not to see her, but he breached it and was abusive to the woman, who then went on the phone to report his behaviour.

Wright grabbed the phone and stamped on it, but he replaced it with a phone on which only he had access to the camera.

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Miss Jane said Wright further breached his bail conditions, going to her home late at night, when he became argumentative and pressed a vape against her face, dug his nails into her skin and squeezed her cheek causing her “extreme pain”.

When she told him she would report it, he repeatedly slapped himself in the face and said he was “preparing himself for the police” coming.

On the arrival of officers, at 3.20am, Wright was arrested and has remained in custody since April 11.

In her impact statement, read to the court, the victim said she felt controlled by Wright, who she said had taken advantage of her and made her feel very "lonely".

She said she was looking forward to being able to live her life as she wants and being “free”, as the defendant had put her through, “sheer hell”.

Describing it as “like a horror movie” she added that his behaviour had been, “absolutely disgraceful”.

Wright, 53, of Mary Crescent, Kelloe, admitted controlling and coercive behaviour within a relationship and criminal damage to the phone, but only on the day his case was due to be heard at trial, in August.

The court heard his only convictions are unconnected and dated back 20 years or more.

Uzma Khan, for Wright, told the court the defendant had no objection to the imposition of a restraining order and pointed out he had not pleaded guilty to offences of violence, only to the controlling behaviour and damaging the phone.

She said it was accepted his behaviour had, “crossed the custody threshold”, but she told the court that he is “remorseful” for his offending, with a probation assessment of him as posing only a low risk of reoffending.

“He’s an individual who, at 53, has led an almost entirely offence-free life other than blips in 2000 and 2003.

“He’s not a person who regularly troubles the criminal justice system.”

Referring to the victim’s impact statement, Recorder Jonathan Sandiford KC said: “What she describes is a classic and serious example of controlling and coercive behaviour, beginning shortly after the relationship began.

“You controlled what she ate and bought, where she could drive and when she could put the heating on, generally demeaning her.”

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Recorder Sandiford said he did not doubt that the victim feared she might die when the defendant grabbed her neck tightly, restricting her ability to breathe, adding: “It can only take a matter of seconds.”

He also said that Wright tried to “change the narrative” by describing it as, “a tempestuous relationship”.

Imposing a three-year prison sentence, of which the defendant will serve half behind bars and the rest on licence, Recorder Sandiford also made Wright subject of a five-year restraining order, forbidding him from contacting or approaching his former partner.