Cardiff man stole £30,000 from woman he met on dating app before cutting her hair with dog trimmers

A man took more than £30,000 from a woman he met on a dating app and "taunted" her after cutting a chunk of her hair off with dog clippers, a court has heard.

Louis Henry, 33, from Cardiff, spent months monitoring the woman's social media use, continually checking her whereabouts, and, on one occasion, deflated her car tyres so she could not leave the holiday accommodation she was staying at.

Swansea Crown Court heard Henry initially asked the woman, who he met via a dating app in 2022, for a loan so he could buy a car to visit his daughter.

The victim eventually agreed to provide £15,000 and discovered, after she returned from a trip away, he had bought a Range Rover.

He then asked for a further £5,000 to insure it.

Prosecutor Craig Jones said after meeting online, the defendant and victim subsequently met in person.

He said the victim thought he was "a little odd" and a bit "touchy-feely" on the first date, but added she decided to give him the benefit of the doubt and they continued seeing each other at weekends.

The court heard Henry told the woman he worked away a lot, in a job in gas marine engineering.

The victim's mother passed away during the course of the relationship, with the defendant aware she had left the woman some money in the will.

Henry continually "pestered" the woman for money over the following months, making threats to kill himself if she did not.

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The 33-year-old then used her phone to transfer money into his own account.

Mr Jones said the victim tried to end the relationship following the breach of trust, but the defendant "manipulated" her into continuing.

The court heard after months of controlling behaviour, including monitoring the woman's social media accounts and whereabouts, Henry used dog trimmers to cut off some of the woman's hair in August last year.

Following the incident at a house in Llansamlet, he sent her a photo of what he had done to "taunt" her.

In a statement read to the court by the prosecutor, the woman described her time with the defendant as "horrendous," adding she had been isolated from family and friends.

She said during the course of the relationship he had taken roughly £35,000.

Louis Henry, of Clos y Gelyn, Pentwyn, Cardiff, had previously pleaded guilty to engaging in coercive or controlling behaviour, assault occasioning actual bodily harm (ABH) by cutting off the woman's hair, and assault by beating in an incident which had seen him catching the woman with an open hand in the doorway of her house.

He has previous convictions including the harassment of a previous partner and burglary.

Defending Henry, Sol Hartley said he was genuinely remorseful and wanted to change his ways, adding the offending was caused, in part, by his insecurity.

However, the judge said he agreed with the "thoughtful" pre-sentence report which deemed his remorse to be superficial and not genuine.

Judge Daniel Williams told the defendant he had "quickly worked" his way into the victim's life, with his motivation "soon becoming clear" as he began pestering her for money.

With a one-sixth reduction for his guilty pleas Henry was sentenced to 30 months in prison comprising 30 months for the controlling behaviour, four months for the ABH, and seven days for the battery all to run concurrently.

Henry will serve up to half of the 30 months in custody before he is released on licence to serve the rest in the community.

He was also given an indefinite restraining order banning him from contacting the victim directly or indirectly.

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