The abusive boyfriend of a woman who took her own life and named him as her “killer” in a suicide note is a “clear danger to any partner he has in the future,” a judge has said.
Ryan Wellings, 30, battered Kiena Dawes, a 23-year-old hairdresser, and repeatedly threatened to throw acid in her face and remove her teeth with a drill over the course of their two-and-a-half year-long relationship.
Wellings, who was found guilty of assault and controlling and coercive behaviour but cleared of manslaughter was jailed for six-and-a-half years on Thursday.
Kiena Dawes was in a relationship with Wellings for two-and-a-half years – Lancashire Police/PA
Jurors at Preston Crown court heard how Dawes had left a note on her mobile phone saying that “Ryan Wellings killed me”, before leaving the couple’s nine-month-old daughter with a friend and taking her own life on a railway line on July 22 2022.
Judge Robert Altham told Wellings during sentencing: “You show no remorse, you seek to blame the fact you took cocaine or alcohol or both.”
“You are a clear danger to any partner you have in the future.”
More to follow.