Ex-boyfriend of Kiena Dawes jailed for six-and-a-half years after mum took her own life following years of abuse

16 January 2025, 16:07 | Updated: 16 January 2025, 16:22

A man has been sentenced to six-and-a-half years in prison after his partner took her own life following years of abuse.

Ryan Wellings, 30, from Bispham in Lancashire, had been accused of the manslaughter of his girlfriend Kiena Dawes following a sustained period of domestic abuse.

Dawes had written a suicide note saying "Ryan Wellings killed me" shortly before leaving their nine-month-old daughter with a friend and taking her own life on a railway line on July 22, 2022.

On Monday, Wellings from Bispham, in Lancashire, was found guilty of assault and coercive and controlling behaviour towards his partner by the jury.

Kiena Dawes seen dropping off baby before committing suicide

He was cleared of manslaughter.

Wellings had previously denied manslaughter, but became the first defendant to be tried before a jury accused of the unlawful killing of his partner after her suicide following domestic violence.

Prosecutors claimed a sustained campaign of abuse had driven the mother to take her own life, with the court hearing how the hairdresser, from Fleetwood in Lancashire, left a note saying "I was murdered" before her death.

Beginning his sentencing of Ryan Wellings for assault and coercive and controlling behaviour to Kiena Dawes who took her own life, Judge Robert Altham said: "Kiena Dawes was according to the accounts of many witnesses, a popular, vivacious, friendly and kind young woman.

"You repeatedly assaulted and abused her. You would repeatedly hit her, in the messages she pleaded with you to stop hitting her.

Ryan Wellings made no reaction but to nod to the judge as he was jailed at Preston Crown Court.

Passing sentence Judge Robert Altham, told the defendant the jury had acquitted him of manslaughter and he must sentence him on the basis he had no "criminal responsibility" for Miss Dawes' death.

He added: "However, from May 2020 until her death, you abused, exploited and assaulted her."

Judge Altham said Wellings made his victim feel worthless and an unfit mother.

He jailed Wellings for four years for the coercive and controlling behaviour with two years for the assault on Miss Dawes to be served consecutively.

He also gave Wellings a further six months consecutive custody for an unrelated assault on one of his friends in July 2023.

"Knowing her previous attempts at suicide and her fragile mental health, you repeatedly told her she may as well kill herself."

Ryan Wellings, who was stood in the dock, made no reaction as the verdicts were read out in silence to a packed courtroom.

During the trial, Jurors were shown Kiena’s note, which read: "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 didn’t deserve it.

"I hope my life saves another by police services acting faster. Don’t let bullies live free."

Only one other defendant has been convicted in such circumstances before, Nicholas Allen, who admitted before his trial in 2017 the manslaughter of his partner, Justene Reece.

Ms Dawes' suicide note, written on her phone, meant she had named and blamed her killer, "from beyond the grave", Wellings' trial heard.

Jurors heard Ms Dawes, a hairdresser from Fleetwood in Lancashire, had suffered two years of violence and abuse at the hands of Wellings.

She 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.

Bubbly and happy-go-lucky, she had been "swept off her feet" after meeting Wellings, a landscape gardener from Bispham, who had a previous conviction for battering his ex-partner, mother of his twin girls.

Wellings had Ms Dawes' name and face tattooed on his body within a week of meeting, and proposed marriage within three months.

But Ms Dawes later said her "fairytale" turned into a "nightmare" with Wellings, who had a vicious temper and regularly enjoyed cocaine and drink binges.

The abuse was detailed to the jury in hundreds of text messages between them, and from Ms Dawes to her friends.