Boyfriend batterer’s secret reign of terror
Double life of charity fundraiser, 22, who scalded, stabbed and isolated partner to keep him under control
A VIOLENT and controlling graduate who stabbed her boyfriend and scalded him with boiling water has been jailed for seven years.
Jordan Worth, 22, made her ‘vulnerable’ partner’s life a misery with a catalogue of domestic abuse. As well as savage physical attacks, she kept food from him, refused him medical treatment and banned him from sleeping in their bed.
She also decided what clothes he could wear and took over his Facebook account to isolate him from friends and family.
Luton Crown Court heard there were two sides to Worth. She had been a diligent pupil at secondary school and then gained an honours degree in fine art at the University of Hertfordshire last year.
She worked as a gymnastics coach, volunteered at an animal rescue centre, raised money for children in Africa and planned to become a teacher.
But the brunette – who met her boyfriend when they were both 16 – was a completely different person at home. The court heard her boyfriend was vulnerable because he suffers from hydrocephalus, a build-up of fluid inside the skull, which puts pressure on the brain and can be fatal if left untreated.
Worth’s reign of fear came to an end in June last year when neighbours called police after hearing shouting in the early hours from the couple’s home in Stewartby, Bedfordshire.
Paramedics took her boyfriend – who does not wish to be named – to hospital, where doctors treated multiple stab wounds and found that 5 per cent of his body had second or third- degree burns. Boiling water had been thrown over him, which would have caused scarring.
The couple split up after Worth was arrested.
Maryam Syed, prosecuting, said the controlling behaviour began at an early stage in their relationship when Worth started ordering him what to wear. The violence followed, and she would refuse to help him get to hospital for treatment. At one point she banned him from their bed for nine months. Neighbours said they often heard arguments between the pair and the sounds of objects being thrown inside the house.
Worth was seen ‘ armed’ with a screwdriver or hambodily
‘Get off, you are hurting me’
mer, while her boyfriend was spotted at different times with black eyes, a limp or his arm in a sling. On one occasion, he was overheard shouting: ‘Get off me, you are hurting me.’ Another neighbour heard him saying: ‘Get off my head. Don’t keep doing that to my head.’
Worth was jailed after admitting controlling or coercive behaviour in an intimate relationship, wounding with intent and causing grievous harm with intent. Her ex-boyfriend was not at court for the hearing. Sentencing her, Judge Nic Madge said she had ‘belittled’ her boyfriend and admitted attacking him with a range of items, including knives.
He added: ‘He suffered from hydrocephalus and he became increasingly isolated. You took over his Facebook profile. There were daily arguments with items being thrown in the house. Custody is inevitable.’
Before she was jailed, Worth had moved to Ingoldisthorpe in Norfolk and started a new relationship.
The offences she admitted covered a 14-month period from early 2016. Judge Madge also imposed a restraining order that will prevent her from contacting her former partner indefinitely.
Worth’s father, Jake, last night told the Mail he was gathering evidence about the relationship, with the possibility of challenging the sentence. ‘There are two sides to every story,’ he said.