Lewis Taylor – Ashford

A serial woman beater left his pregnant girlfriend “bloodied and bruised” before urinating on her in what has been described as the ‘worst domestic abuse’ case witnessed by a judge in his 25-year career.

Possessive and suspicious Lewis Taylor repeatedly assaulted his victim in her Sheppey home after he wrongly accused her of being unfaithful and expecting another man’s baby.

During one especially vicious assault, Taylor smashed his victim’s head against a toilet cistern, causing it to shatter before hauling her by her hair, battering her against walls and floors, and forcing his fingers into her mouth to silence her screams.

When she bit him, the convicted drug dealer spat in her face and urinated over her legs.

She was described as being “in shock, shaking and frightened,” Maidstone Crown Court heard.

The woman then endured the trauma of providing testimony at 36-year-old Taylor’s trial when he denied three offences of assault occasioning actual bodily harm (ABH), two of assault by beating, one of intentional strangulation and one of criminal damage.

However, following his conviction by the jury on all charges except one of ABH and one of assault by beating, Judge Daniel Stevenson told the mother she could “hold her head high” after she had courageously outlined the scale of her suffering and its impact.

Taylor was informed he had been found unanimously guilty on “clear and compelling” evidence, and despite his efforts at “gaslighting” his ex by claiming she was mentally unwell, obsessed with him and had injured herself.

The judge stated that the fact he assaulted her whilst pregnant “spoke volumes” about the man he was.

It was also disclosed after the jury had delivered its verdicts that whilst this was his first conviction for domestic abuse, previous complaints of violent behaviour had been made by two other women, and a restraining order was in place regarding one woman.

The court heard Taylor, of Ashford, had been in a relationship with the victim for approximately four months when he first attacked her on June 29 after they had been out celebrating her birthday.

Having accused her of being unfaithful, an argument erupted which escalated until he shoved her onto the stairs, grabbed her neck with both hands and “took her breath away” with his tight grip.

The second assault occurred a few days later, after he had again accused his partner of being unfaithful and lying despite having been sent a photo to prove she was at work.

The court heard she was driving when Taylor grabbed by the scruff of her neck and spat in her face. The third attack happened in her home in Leysdown-on-Sea.

Taylor called his partner a w***e, grabbed her face and squeezed so hard she was left with two black eyes.

He also bellowed at her over the telephone after she returned from a night shift and instructed her to “get rid” of the baby.

Detailing the consequences in her victim impact statement, the woman disclosed she was forced to live separately from her children for a week because she couldn’t bear them witnessing the injuries inflicted by the man she had cherished.

Upon their reunion, she was compelled to deceive her “extremely upset” son about the events and discard blood-stained toys.

She also became startled by sounds, implemented security precautions, couldn’t tolerate physical contact, and started refusing food whilst making herself vomit following his cruel remarks about her appearance.

She continued: “I know now this is all a clear example of his manipulation and control. You can’t see it when you are in a relationship but when you look back it is clear what he has done and how awful it was. Me, my children and our baby meant nothing to him and he made this clear throughout the trial.”

Taylor was returned to prison for violating the licence terms of his release from a 58-month custodial sentence handed down in May 2022 for his part in a national cocaine syndicate.

His six previous convictions for 11 offences also include one of threatening violence.

Sentencing him to a total of six years behind bars, the judge declared to the thug: “The photos of her injuries and her description of that assault are the worst example of domestic ABH I have encountered in my 25 years as a barrister and judge. The impact has been substantial….She loved you, and you completely violated the trust that is supposed to exist between two people in a relationship.”

Taylor was additionally given a 15-year restraining order.