BOOTED
In Front Of My Baby...
Some of us just can’t resist a bad boy! When I met Jed Thorpe through friends, in February 2014, he was covered in tattoos, wearing a baseball cap, and full of chat.
But, underneath the badboy image, he was a kind, charming joker.
We just clicked, spent hours talking and laughing. Four years younger than me, he worked as a labourer and lived with his dad.
I was single, living in a shared house, and couldn’t work because of hip problems.
Me and Jed started meeting up and talking on the phone.
Then, a couple of weeks on, he came to stay at my place, and we became an item.
‘I want to marry you one day and have children,’ Jed said.
‘I’ve always wanted to be a mum,’ I agreed, in love.
Sudden outburst
In the May, we moved in together in his hometown of Leicester. It was strange being so far away from friends and family, but I kept in touch with them via Facebook.
But then Jed started getting funny about it.
‘Who’s that bloke who’s liked your post?’ he fumed, in December 2014.
‘Just an old mate,’ I replied.
But Jed flew off the handle.
‘You fat, ugly trout!’ he spat.
What on earth..? Shocked, I tried to write it off as a heat-of-themoment outburst. Plus, I had other things to think about when I discovered I was pregnant. ‘It’s what I’ve always wanted,’ I beamed.
Jed seemed happy, too. But, as the pregnancy progressed, he became really jealous, insisted on going everywhere with me.
If he wanted to go out and see his mates, he’d take me to his mum’s first, so I wasn’t alone. But he’d roll back in the early hours.
‘You’re going to have to calm things down when the baby comes,’ I warned.
‘I’ll sort myself out,’ he promised.
By then, I’d stopped using Facebook, barely saw my family.
When I went into labour in August 2015, I wanted my mum there with me. But…
‘It’s me and you,’ Jed said. ‘No-one else.’
After, when our daughter was just a week old, instead of being the doting dad, he got a ridiculous idea in his head…
‘You’re letting people into the house in the night!’ he raged.
‘What?’ I gasped. ‘I’m getting up to feed the baby!’
Eyes bloodshot, I was terrified of Jed, desperately wanted to leave. But he threatened to take our girl.
I loved her too much to risk it. So I stayed.
He began screwing the doors shut, locking the windows
A prisoner
The following month, Jed admitted kissing another girl. Furious, I dumped him. But he persuaded me to take him back. Only, some days, he’d screw the doors shut, lock the windows… ‘You’ve been letting people into the house!’ he’d rage. ‘Don’t be ridiculous!’ I gasped.
Often a prisoner in my own
home, I couldn’t see a way out.
Then, on 31 January this year, Jed went to his dad’s, and I was on the way to his mum’s when I spotted the girl he’d kissed driving towards his dad’s.
I think there’s someone on the way to see you, I texted Jed, furious.
He didn’t reply for ages, but then he turned up at his mum’s, raging that I was having an affair.
Scared, I was trying to bundle our daughter into the car, when Jed leant over and punched me in the nose.
I raced back inside, but Jed followed me.
‘Get the f*ck in the car!’ he bellowed at me.
‘No, get off me!’ I screamed . And that was the last thing I remembered…
When I came to, five hours later, I was in a hospital bed.
Nurses explained
I’d been brought to Leicester Royal Infirmary, and my daughter was being looked after by my mum.
When I looked at myself in the mirror,
I was horrified.
‘I look like Frankenstein’s monster!’ I gasped, suddenly spotting a footprint across my cheek.
‘You’ve got extreme swelling, two fractures to your left eye socket and bleeding on the brain, as well as bruising to your arm and shoulder,’ the doctor explained.
Police officers took photos, and I had three CT scans in the next 24 hours.
Eventually, Jed handed himself into police.
I felt relieved, but angry. How could he do this to me? And in front of his 17-month-old daughter, too?
My eye was too swollen for doctors to assess if I’d lost my sight, so I was released the following day.
Terrified
Mum broke down in tears when she saw the state of me. ‘Why didn’t you reach out to me?’ she asked.
‘I couldn’t, Mum, I’m sorry,’ I sobbed.
Under Jed’s spell, terrified of the repercussions, I’d cut off everyone who cared about me.
Jed Thorpe was remanded in custody, and admitted inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent.
In August, I went to Leicester Crown Court to witness him being handed his sentence.
Thankfully, he was jailed for nine years and given an indefinite restraining order, banning him from contacting me or coming to my home town. Justice.
I’ve had to have an operation to fit a metal plate in my eye socket. I didn’t lose my sight, but I suffer with double vision in that eye.
My confidence is at rock bottom because I’m so self-conscious about how my face looks, but I’m determined to stay positive for the sake of my daughter.
She’s the only good thing to have come out of our relationship.
Apart from having her with him, I wish I’d never met Jed Thorpe.
I’m determined to stay positive for my daughter