-The victim of 'one of worst ever domestic abuse cases' is alive to tell her story
In 2013 Craig Thomas, then 33, battered his pregnant girlfriend, Charlotte Rooks while she was pregnant with hammers, made her to sleep naked standing up and forced to eat pictures of her dead relatives, as details emerge of one of Britain’s worst cases of domestic abuse.
He was jailed for 10 years following what a judge described as “one of the worst cases of domestic abuse” he had ever encountered. Charlotte had to have extensive reconstructive surgery and still has extensive nerve damage in her face.
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| The abuser, Craig Thomas |
TheSun has the inner scoop:
Her partner Craig Thomas was jailed for 10 years in 2013 after locking her up in his Cardiff flat while she was pregnant and subjecting her to months of brutality.
Judge Neil Bidder QC labelled this “one of the worst cases of domestic abuse” he had ever encountered, as the court heard how the victim was forced to urinate into a mop bucket and had even contemplated suicide.
It has now emerged that police missed a shocking number of opportunities that could have brought Charlotte’s ordeal to an end much earlier.
A report from the Independent Police Complaints Commission revealed how police visited the flat where the woman was held captive following several tip-offs from members of the public but failed to grasp the full extent of her torment.
The report also adds that officers repeatedly failed to arrest Thomas, confirming he was only detained after Charlotte, now 34, made a daring escape after months of hell.
The first complaints made to police regarding the couple were logged on May 22, 2013, when a member of the public reported hearing the sound of a woman screaming in terror.
Two officers were sent to investigate when the witness expressed concern for her welfare after having previously seen her with visible bruising.
Thomas avoided arrest after managing to convince the incompetent officers that they had just been having “loud sex”, when he had in fact being brutally battering his partner.
During this visit, Charlotte even attempted to get their attention by saying it was her baby that the neighbours had heard.
However, both officers failed to note that there was no baby at the property and it was a way of her asking for help.
Just months later, police were again called to the same property following claims that Thomas had been seen attacking Charlotte from a window.
Four officers arrived at the property, but again Thomas managed to convince them the call was fake, suggesting that “people had a vendetta against him over drugs” and were out to get him in trouble.
Again officers failed to realise that Thomas has been repeatedly battering the pregnant woman in the stomach with the metal extension of a vacuum cleaner.
Despite noticing visible fresh reddening on her cheeks and an obvious eye injury, officers claimed there were no signs of a disturbance and no action was taken against Thomas.
Thomas battered Charlotte again in frustration after police left the property.
Speaking to Wales Online about that particular day, Charlotte said: “When they left I knew that I was f***ed, I thought that I was going to die.
“That night I remember saying to him to just kill me.
"He said: ‘I will either give you bleach or you can put a bag over your head’.
"I remember really weighing up these options because I just wanted to die.
“That night he lifted up the sofa and made me lie down and put my arms above my head so that my hands were trapped under the sofa and would then repeatedly jump on my stomach.
“Obviously your body reaction is to curl up but my hands were trapped under the sofa.
"If I couldn’t control my reflexes he would just stamp on my head – that went on all night.
“I was being tortured. That is exactly what CID said. [The person interviewing me] had to take a break himself during the interview.”
Just two days after the second police visit, officers turned up at the property again on an unrelated matter.
Using quick-thinking, she took the opportunity to escape the property while the door was unlocked.
Charlotte said: “I remember thinking that if I don’t go now I will never leave.
“I could walk out and be with the police but they had already left me 24 hours before and I wasn’t taking that risk.
"I wasn’t taking that risk because if they had left me again I would be dead. I just ran.”
Her escape led to his eventual arrest, with Thomas being sentenced to 10 years in prison at Cardiff Crown Court.
Thomas, then of Llanishen , Cardiff, pleaded guilty to four counts of attempting to cause grievous bodily harm with intent, one count of unlawful wounding, and one count of wounding with intent.
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