‘BRUTAL EX ATTACKED ANOTHER AFTER CPS DROPPED MY CASE’:
FORMER GIRLFRIEND SPEAKS OUT AFTER MAN JAILED
A FORMER girlfriend of a man jailed for throwing petrol over his partner has come forward to speak of the harrowing abuse she too suffered at his hands.
Kelly Williams, from Bangor, had been involved in a relationship with Darren Jones until last year. Earlier this month, he was jailed for more than a year and a half for dousing a woman in fuel, partially stripping her and trying to force gravel into her mouth.
And while his lawyer at his sentencing told the judge it was hard to square the violent offender portrayed to the court with the “polite, quiet man” in the dock, Miss Williams says she knows all too well otherwise.
She said when she heard of the appalling ordeal suffered by Debbie Lovell Hughes, it brought back to her memories of what she was subjected to.
She told our sister paper the Daily Post the recent case had the hallmarks of what she went through, adding: “He always used to strip you naked before he beat you, because then you can’t go anywhere. And that was it, you knew you weren’t getting away. so you’re better off taking it.
“If Darren felt threatened or as if you were going to leave, he would attack. He would threaten to break my legs so I couldn’t leave him.”
Miss Willams said the abuse began around three months into the relationship, when he slapped her after she said she wanted to go to her aunt’s funeral.
“I had boiling water thrown on my face, I was kicked, hit, had a box of nails thrown on my feet.
“He beat me with a hockey stick. I still have scars on my wrist. I threw up in my lap, I was in so much pain.
“I was covered in bruises, and he wouldn’t take me to the hospital because of my bruises. We had to wait until all the bruises had gone from my arms before he would take me for my leg.”
And the 27-year-old said she was frustrated that despite Jones being arrested and charged with offences against her, the prosecution dropped the case.
She now wonders whether the fact that he was not convicted of offences against her meant other women were not warned of the potential danger he posed.
Miss Williams had gone to police in October last year. In February this year, Jones appeared in court charged with common assault and controlling and coercive behaviour.
The Crown Prosecution decided to drop the coercive and controlling behaviour charges when Miss Williams made further serious allegations against him.
An alternative charge of harassment was introduced, to go alongside the assault.
But the CPS wrote to her saying these were dropped due to concerns over how long he had been on remand.
A letter from the CPS said it had “taken into account the fact that the defendant had already spent a considerable time in custody and if he was found guilty of the offences, the defendant would be unlikely to receive any additional sentence.”
The CPS decided to accept Jones’ defence solicitor’s recommendation of a restraining order, adding that the controlling and coercive behaviour charges might be brought back into play if Jones was ever charged with other serious offences Miss Williams alleged he had committed.
But Miss Williams says that nearly a year later, she has heard no more about whether the other allegations are still being investigated, or if there is any hope of Jones being punished for what she says he did to her.
North Wales Police would not confirm whether the investigation was still live.
Miss Williams added: “I don’t think enough is being done to warn these poor women about this man.
“I only went through the whole thing (of trying to get him prosecuted) because the police kept telling me ‘you need to protect future women that go with him’.
“But he is still getting to these women.
It feels like I went through all that for nothing.”
On November 7, Jones, of Arfryn, Bull Bay, Anglesey, was jailed for 20 months for the attack on 41-year-old Miss Lovell Hughes, who met Jones through Facebook.
She was dragged from her bed, partially stripped, punched and kicked to the head before Jones tried to force gravel into her mouth.
The judge who jailed him said it was “difficult to imagine a more serious example of domestic violence”.
His defence barrister said it was “very difficult to reconcile the difference between the quiet, polite young man and the man described to the court by the prosecution”, and was able to tell the court that Jones had no previous convictions for violence.
Under current legislation, known as Clare’s Law, police can share information on the backgrounds of men suspected of abuse towards partners even if the investigations did not result in a conviction.
The scheme – named in memory of 36-year-old Clare Wood from Manchester who was killed by habitual violent offender George Appleton in Salford in 2009 – gives people the right to ask the police about a new partner’s past. But in some cases, police can proactively share information with women they discover have become involved with men who have been abusive towards partners in the past.
It is not known whether any of Jones’ background was passed on to women he became involved with subsequent to his relationship with Miss Williams.
Detective Inspector Andrew Gibson said: “North Wales Police have a duty to supply all relevant information and material to the Crown Prosecution Service during an investigation.
“In domestic violence cases, police will share previously reported incidents with current and ex-partners and will also include incidents which resulted in convictions and those that did not.
“As part of our continued drive to make North Wales a safer place to love, perpetrators of domestic violence are often reviewed when it is apparent they are in a new relationship.
“This review will consider any requirement for police to notify individuals of their new partner’s domestic violence history, with safeguarding at the forefront of that review, nationally referred to as Clare’s Law.”
Jones’ legal team declined to comment.