Partner shot by ex told police he was abusing her
A gunman who shot himself after fatally wounding his former partner was facing charges of abusing her.
Jacob Cloke, who previously lived in Maidstone, was on lifesupport in hospital after an armed police stand-off ended in violence on Saturday, May 6, but died last Thursday. Mum-of-two Hayley Burke died after being shot at her home in Priory Road, Dartford, having reportedly been held hostage.
Firearms officers were sent to the scene along with a trained negotiator.
The KM can now reveal how 29-year-old Cloke was facing a number of charges relating to abusing Ms Burke having previously been sent to prison for attacking other women. Details reveal she felt intimidated after the cocaine addict tried to strangle her over a row about a mobile phone. In February last year he threatened to kill Ms Burke, grabbing her by the throat and causing her to pass out.
The former pub manager awoke to find him shaking her – he denied attacking her, saying she must have fallen.
Feeling unwell days later, the mum-of-two went to Darent Valley Hospital, Dartford, where a bleed to the brain was discovered.
The couple started going out in December 2020 and were at one time engaged but the relationship soured after he
changed after time in prison. On April 18, the scaffolder turned up at her home and later that night entered the bedroom – slamming the door and refusing to let her out. He became aggressive, threatened to break her puppy’s paws and spat in her face.
Cloke, who previously lived in Hayle Road, Maidstone and Shortlands Road, Sittingbourne, denied doing anything to her and left the house. The following morning he returned and, scared and feeling vulnerable, Ms Burke called the police who arrested Cloke.
His criminal career started at 14. He served several spells in jail for a raft of wide-ranging offences. Over the next few years he became prolific in committing motoring offences, including taking without consent and driving with a licence or insurance.
By May 2010 he had moved on to burglaries and then in following years, drink driving, robbery and criminal damage. In September 2015 he faced a
charge of possessing a designated fighting dog
The recent charges he faced were: assaulting by beating Hayley Burke in Sheerness on February 24, 2023; assaulting by beating Hayley Burke in Dartford on April 18, 2023; theft of a pair of trainers in Dartford on April 24, 2023; assaulting Hayley Burke causing actual bodily harm in Dartford on February 28, 2022.
Cloke was jailed for two years in 2021 after admitting assaulting another woman the previous October.
Maidstone Crown Court heard how he had punched her as she held their baby and threatened to "put the baby in the ground." He punched her "with a clenched fist" on multiple occasions, and she later told police she was worried "that she was not going to make it out alive".
He also had a conviction for attacking a previous partner. Simon Taylor, defending, said Cloke was a cocaine addict who had severe adult ADHD.