I SUFFERED YEARS AT HIS HANDS

Oct 18 2009 by Mieka Smiles, Sunday Sun

THIS week Stephen Newton was jailed for life for the murder of his on-off partner Nicola Morrin who he strangled with her baby’s tights before stabbing her repeatedly. MIEKA SMILES speaks to a woman from Houghton-le-Spring, Tyne and Wear, who survived a horrific campaign of domestic abuse.

HE seemed like a lovely person and was very, very handsome.

But just six weeks after I first met him in 1999 he pinned me up against the wall by my neck just because some other guy had looked at me.

The following day I got the tears. He said he was sorry and that he would never do it again. I took him back. It was only about three months later when he did the same kind of thing again.

He came into the home I was living in with my mum, having had a drink, and we got into an argument. I asked for him to go, and went up to bed. Rather than leave he came up the stairs and followed me into the bedroom and chucked the bed on its side.

I was trapped between the bed and the wall, and he continued to push the bed against me. I got a letter this time as well as phone calls saying how sorry he was and that he would never do it again.

Throughout the years of abuse he led me to believe, as the saying goes, ‘you always hurt the ones you love’. Every time he hurt me he would tell me this. I think I thought I could change him and that I could help him get help.

When I saw him crying I thought he must be really hurt and really sorry. I fell pregnant in 2004 but I lost the baby. He actually kicked me between the legs while I was still bleeding.

The relationship got a little more intense. He would be sitting outside when I left work to make sure that I didn’t leave the building with anyone else. He would comment on what I looked like saying I looked fat. He would follow me, constantly ring me. He would be Mr Nice Guy to friends and family to hide what an animal he was.

He also assaulted me while I was pregnant with our second child. I had one child in my arms and one in my stomach – I was having a Caesarian and there were only two days to go. He pinned me up against my 11-month-old son’s bedroom wall by my throat. He told me he was going to kill me and I believed him. He pounded all the way around my head leaving big holes in the wall. I was screaming that I was going to call the police. He jumped in his car full of drink and left.

Believe it or not he eventually got back into our lives as after the Caesarian he said that I really needed some help. We tried again, but one day I looked at my boys and thought ‘hang on, I don’t want my boys’ lives ruined by this,’ after no argument whatsoever. That was in February 2006.

That’s when I rang Wearside Women in Need. After that I was a tower of strength and felt like I could get through anything with the help of the team. With their help I got an injunction against him.

My parents decided they wanted a family holiday with me and the boys - he suggested he came along. Stupidly - even with the injunction in place - I allowed him. When we were away my son picked up his sunglasses and he saw red. He picked my little boy up and splattered him onto the bed - had it have been a hard surface I don’t know what would have happened. That was the final straw.

I would say to other women in this position to definitely get some support as I don’t think anybody can break free by themselves. I would also suggest having a chat with your neighbours; had the police knocked on the door when it was happening the result might have been totally different.

Three years on and life is brilliant. I feel like I have got my life back on track.”

VContact Wearside Women in Need on (0191) 416 3550.