A “monster” who subjected his vulnerable partner to assault and years of domestic abuse but was cleared of her manslaughter has been sentenced for six-and-a-half years.
Ryan Wellings, 30, received the sentence for assault and coercive behaviour against Kiena Dawes, 23, who left a suicide note calling her partner a “monster” who had “killed me”.
She left the note and their nine-month-old daughter with a friend before taking her own life on a railway line on July 22, 2022.
Wellings was convicted of the crimes that took place over a two-year period but cleared of manslaughter by the jury on Monday following a six-week trial at Preston Crown Court.
He was the first defendant to face trial for the unlawful killing of his partner after her suicide following domestic violence.
Kiena Dawes, 23, from Fleetwood, was found dead by British Transport Police on a railway line in July 2022 (Handout/Lancashire Police/PA) (Image: PA Media)
Paul Greaney KC, prosecuting, read Kiena’s suicide note to jurors: “The end. I fought hard, I fought long. I went through pain no-one could imagine.”
“I was murdered. Ryan Wellings killed me. He ruined every bit of strength I had left. I had dreams. I had a future at one point. That was taken away from me.”
After she became pregnant, Wellings gave Kiena a black eye and began criticising her weight, calling her a “fat little bitch” while contacting escorts and prostitutes online.
Wellings’ abuse of Kiena included regular slapping and “ragging” by her hair, and threats to use a drill to take out her teeth and “make her look like Katie Piper” by throwing acid in her face.
Police were called more than once, but Wellings told Kiena that she would have their daughter taken off them if she told them what was happening, so she declined to help prosecute him.
Ryan Wellings was convicted of assault and prolonged domestic violence towards Kiena Dawes (Lancashire Police/PA) (Image: PA Media)
Kiena, a hairdresser from Fleetwood in Lancashire, had been diagnosed with an emotionally unstable personality disorder, resulting in increased impulsivity, poor self-esteem and difficulty in relationships, a condition allegedly exploited by the defendant.
She attempted to take her own life in the past before her relationship with Wellings, and his lawyers told the court her suicide was due to “multiple factors”.
Kiena’s mother Angela Dawes described her daughter as the “sweetest, kindest and gentlest person”.
She said: “I truly hope no other young lady or child has to go through what he did to my daughter and her baby and I just wish with all my heart that I could bring her back and say, it’s OK, you’re safe now.”
Kiena he had been “swept off her feet” after meeting Wellings, a landscape gardener from Bispham, who had a previous conviction for battering his ex-partner, the mother of his twin girls.
Wellings had Kiena’s name and face tattooed on his body within a week of meeting, and proposed to her within three months.
Described by Mr Greaney as an “entitled, aggressive bully” and by Kiena’s friends as a “horrible little bastard” with a jealous streak, he did not like being answered back to.
Friends and her mother warned her to “run a mile” from “toxic” Wellings, but a pattern developed of break-up and make-up, as he made excuses for his behaviour.
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