'Every time I got rid of one weapon, another one would come': Domestic abuse victim speaks out

A woman who made her partner's life a misery with her violence which included scalding him with boiling water and stabbing him has been jailed for seven-and-a-half-years.

Jordan Worth banned Alex Skeel from their bed, kept food from him, decided what clothes he could wear, isolated him from friends and family and even took over his Facebook account.

Alex told ITV News Anglia, the abuse started off as psychological, but quickly became violent.

Luton Crown Court heard there were two sides to 22 year old Jordan Worth.

She came from a loving family and was a high performer at school, gaining a 2:1 Honours Degree in Fine Arts, she wanted to be a teacher. She had been involved in caring and voluntary work for unwanted animals and had raised money for children in Africa.

But at their home village of Stewartby in Bedfordshire, Worth controlled every aspect of her boyfriends life, who she met when they were both 16 years old.

They eventually moved in together, she began controlling what he would wear, then became violent; using blunt objects to strike him, wounded him with a knife.

The charge of controlling or coercive behaviour covered a period from April of 2016 to June of last year when police were called to the couple's home in Stewartby.

Neighbours of the couple often heard them arguing and the sounds of things being thrown in the house. The victim was heard by his neighbours shouting at Worth: "Get off me, you are hurting me" and was seen on occasions with black eyes and to be limping and with his arm in sling.

In June last year neighbours called police to the couple's home after hearing shouting. Ambulance crews found injuries to his hand, burns to arms and legs which were being self-treated with cling film.

Five per cent of his total body surface was scalded, Worth had thrown boiling water over him.

Further examination found stab wounds about his body and limbs.

Worth pleaded guilty to controlling and coercive behaviour in an intimate relationship, wounding with intent and causing grievous bodily harm with intent.

She was also made the subject of a restraining order which prevents her from contacting her former partner for an indefinite period.

• The Crown Prosecution Service describes coercive behaviour as:

• An act or a pattern of acts of assault, threats, humiliation and intimidation or other abuse that is used to harm, punish, or frighten their victim.

• Controlling behaviour is a range of acts designed to make a person subordinate and/or dependent by isolating them from sources of support, exploiting their resources and capacities for personal gain, depriving them of the means needed for independence, resistance and escape and regulating their everyday behaviour

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