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An evil bloke inflicted a 'reign of terror' on his ex-partner, locking her up every night for five years and padlocking himself to her.
Michael Cooper, 50, fitted bars to the windows of the home they shared and forced his victim to sleep in the loft, Preston Crown Court was told.
To stop her leaving the house Cooper chained the woman's arm to his own and secured it with a padlock and also wouldn't let her have friends or use social media, LancsLive reports.
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A court heard she was locked up every night and had to ask permission to use the bathroom before she managed to escape in June, 2020, and called the police.
In a victim impact statement read to the court, the woman bravely spoke out and said Cooper has "ruined her life".
She stated: “I was living in constant fear of being assaulted, locked away, ridiculed and undermined.
“This was a day to day occurrence and my life was stressful beyond anything I have experienced before or since.
“I was refused to have friends or any kind of normal life. Michael controlled every aspect of my days to such an extent I wasn’t allowed to have social media.”
She added: “I became a shadow of my former self. I became a completely different person and despite being free from Michael’s clutches I haven’t been able to return to how I was before.
“He has ruined my life.”
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Cooper, from Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire, who admitted using controlling or coercive behaviour during a trial, was jailed for four years.
Chloe Fordham, defending, said his behaviour was borne out of paranoia rather than malice.
But sentencing him, Judge Darren Preston said: “Over a period of five years you made the life of your then partner an absolute misery.
“Like the complete and clearly pathetic and inadequate man you are, you belittled her, you assaulted her and you imprisoned her.
“This case was described as a ‘reign of terror’. It is difficult to imagine a more serious example of coercive control than your effective imprisonment of your partner. The damage you caused can not be under exaggerated. You inflicted untold damage.”
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