IT is an image that brings home the stark reality of domestic violence.

Lying in a coma, Kathryn Cook barely clings on to life.

It was a battle she would not win.

Ms Cook was battered by her former boyfriend, Paul Northey. Yesterday, he was jailed for life for her murder.

The picture of Ms Cook in a persistent vegetative state was released by her parents, Kathleen and Philip.

They hope the sight of their 44-year-old daughter being kept alive on a life support machine will act as a warning to women too afraid to leave violent partners. Mrs Cook, 71, who lived doors away from Kathryn in Penshaw Gardens, Stanley, County Durham, said she tried to keep her daughter away from Northey, a 42-yearold drug addict.

“I said to her ‘Kathryn he will kill you one of these days’ and she said, ‘No, Mam, he won’t go that far’,” she said.

“Those were her words, but he did, and I knew it was going to happen because he was getting more and more violent.”

Last night, Becky Rogerson, service director of My Sisters Place, in Middlesbrough, a charity providing support, assistance and advice to victims of domestic violence, praised the actions of Ms Cook’s family.

“My thoughts are with the family.

What an absolute tragedy,” she said.

“It is a really generous act in such difficult circumstances.

“There is the potential to raise that awareness further and bring the stark reality of the tragedy of these cases to everybody’s attention.

“There will, hopefully, be somebody reading the article who will think ‘my God, that could be me’.

“There will be somebody who knows deep down that perhaps their partner has the potential to kill, but perhaps does not want to face the reality of that. Sometimes seeing that on the pages of a paper can bring somebody into a service and say ‘I am really concerned because at times I am frightened for my life’.”

Ms Cook was found unconscious in her bedroom on June 25, 2008, by her ten-year-old daughter, Rebecca.

Clumps of her hair had been pulled out and she had been throttled so hard her eyes bled. She also suffered a blow to the side of the head that made her ears bleed and was struck so hard around the back of the head she slipped in to a coma.

She died six months later.

Northey, 42, of Wylam Road, Stanley, was found guilty of murder. He will be eligible to apply for parole in ten-and-a-half years.

Mr Justice Robin Spencer QC said he accepted Northey had not intended to kill Ms Cook and the attack was not premeditated, but told him the history of domestic violence that dated back three years was an aggravating factor. He said: “I am quite sure that the injury to the back of the head was caused by you during a brutal prolonged attack. No sentence can ever atone the grievous loss felt by Kathryn Cook’s family.”

Last year, The Northern Echo reported how the number of cases of domestic violence had increased in three out of the four areas in the region.

Cleveland, North Yorkshire and Northumbria police forces all saw year-on-year increases in domestic violence crimes.

The rates were highest in the Northumbria area, with 27,792 reported crimes last year – an average of three an hour – up from 26,650 the previous year.

In Cleveland, reports rose by more than five per cent, with 13,403 crimes alleged between June 2009 and May last year. North Yorkshire reported 2,123 crimes between July 2009 and June last year, up 3.5 per cent on the year before.

County Durham’s reported crimes fell by 0.2 per cent to 10,578.

Ms Cook’s mother, who said she was satisfied with the guilty verdict, said: “We know it was Northey who killed our Kathryn. We have had years of this going on with him beating her up. She kept a lot from us, but I did try to keep her away from him.

He was getting more and more violent.

I begged her to get rid of him, but she wouldn’t.”

􀁧 If you need help or want to talk about domestic violence, call My Sisters Place on 01642-241864 or email support@mysistersplace.co.uk