Thug’s domestic violence left his girlfriend ‘wish she was alive’ in Wigan | United Kingdom | New UK News

Liam Mountford, 34, left his girlfriend’s self-esteem “all over the place” and made her wish she wasn’t alive anymore. A court heard he had subjected her to heinous abuse for 10 months after they moved in together.

On one occasion, the yob broke his phone to prevent him from contacting other people. Whenever the woman made arrangements to visit friends or family, Mountford accused her of meeting other men, which meant she decided not to go through with the visits.

Mountford, whose offense escalated when he smoked crack cocaine, once forced the woman into her van and squat on the floor. He also threatened to post nude photos of herself online.

But the thug, who has 18 convictions for 32 offenses, was somehow spared jail on Monday at Bolton Crown Court. Recorder Ciaran Rankin sentenced him to 12 months in prison with a two-year suspended sentence.

He also imposed a two-year restraining order, preventing Mountford from contacting the woman for two years, the Manchester Evening News reports.

The court heard that Mountford began to take control in June 2020 when his partner moved in with him to Wigan, Greater Manchester.

Adam White, prosecuting, said the accused prevented the woman from seeing friends and on one occasion when the woman walked away from Mountford he yelled at her and followed her.

Passers-by eventually intervened, but Mountford returned in a van and forced the woman up and crouch on the floor.

After getting a job in South Wales towards the end of 2020, Mountford persuaded the woman to move with him.

Although things initially looked better, she was living with a friend in South Wales in March 2021. Mountford asked her to return to Greater Manchester with him and she refused.

He then bombarded the woman with “nasty” calls and messages, in which he called her “spotty c ** t” and threatened to post nude photos of her online.

Mountford also regularly video called the woman to make sure she was not with other men.

On March 20, the woman went with Mountford to her brother’s house and fell asleep. When she woke up, Mountford was telling her that he had looked into her phone and was not happy with what he had found.

He told her to leave but as she gathered her things he told her, “If you go through that door, I’ll bring you back by the hair and burn your mother’s house.”

Mountford then threw his things on the roof of a shed.

As the woman tried to walk away, he started pushing her against furniture, which caused bruises on her legs and feet.

He spat at her several times and called her a “sl **”, a “tramp” and a “liar”, before telling her that he “hoped she died a long and painful death” .

Mountford then put on weights and held them over his head, which made the woman think he was going to attack her.

Eventually she left and went to a friend’s house. Mountford later got into a car and returned the phone to him, before telling him to get in the car. She refused.

Throughout the night he kept calling her and she told him that she wanted to kill herself. Instead of discouraging her, Mountford told her that they should both do it together.

The woman eventually returned to her parents and it was then that she told them about the abuse she had suffered at the hands of Mountford. He was then arrested.

While on bail, Mountford met the woman on April 12.

He snatched her phone from her and refused to give it back. When she tried to pick him up, he pushed her onto the sidewalk.

Mountford then hit the rearview mirror of a car parked on Railway Road in Wigan, before smashing the rear windshield of another.

He pleaded guilty to controlling and coercive behavior, two counts of assault by beating and two counts of criminal damage.

In a victim impact statement, the woman said the abuse left her self-esteem low and made her wish she wished she was no longer alive.

In defense, Mark Phillips mentioned Mountford’s early guilty plea and referred to the fact that he had already spent nine weeks in custody.

Judge Recorder Ciaran Rankin called Mountford’s criminal record of 18 convictions for 32 offenses “terrible.”

He told Mountford he had avoided a “skin-deep” prison sentence.

He was also ordered to perform 120 hours of unpaid work and pay £ 100 compensation to each of the car owners.