JAMES MADDEN – BELFAST

❌JAMES MADDEN – BELFAST❌

2024 – Man Jailed After Urinating on Partner and Forcing Her to Clean Herself Following Brutal Beatings

A Belfast man who carried out a sustained campaign of violent and degrading abuse against his partner has been jailed after a court heard the shocking extent of his behaviour.

Forty-year-old James Madden was handed a total sentence of six years and seven months after a judge said he had made his partner’s life a “misery” through relentless domestic violence. He was deemed a dangerous offender by both the court and the Probation Board and received an extended custodial sentence of four years and seven months in prison, followed by two years on licence.

Belfast Crown Court was told that over a three-month period between October 2021 and early January 2022, Madden subjected his partner to repeated assaults and acts of degradation inside his Antrim Road flat.

The abuse included urinating on her, dragging her into the street naked, and holding a knife to her throat while threatening to kill her. On one occasion, after attacking her so badly that she wet herself, he ordered her to clean the floor with a mop and bucket before throwing the dirty water back over her.

The court heard that once the door to the flat was locked, the violence would begin. The victim described being beaten in the kitchen, the living room, the hallway and the bedroom. She said she lived in constant fear, “walking on eggshells,” and could tell an attack was coming by a change in his face.

During the campaign of violence, Madden punched and kicked her repeatedly, dragged her around the flat by her hair, spat in her face, choked her, bit her, and urinated on her. On another occasion he threw her naked into the street.

After one particularly savage assault, her eye was so badly injured she feared she had been blinded. He threatened to burn her mother’s house down, smashed her phone when she tried to call for help, and bit her arm so hard that it left clear teeth marks.

At one point he posted on Facebook claiming they had gone on a break, when in reality they had fled to his sister’s home to hide her visible injuries from anyone who might call to the flat.

Police and friends were so concerned that they repeatedly checked on her welfare during the relationship.

Madden admitted 18 offences, including wounding, multiple assaults, assault causing actual bodily harm, false imprisonment and threats to damage property.

The judge said the victim had suffered a “traumatic experience” which worsened long-standing mental health problems. He described Madden’s behaviour as “frankly appalling,” highlighting the callousness, the determination to humiliate and demean, and the sustained cruelty inflicted on his partner.

The court was told that due to his dangerousness, Madden will not be automatically released halfway through his sentence. Any release will be decided by the Parole Commissioners. When he is freed, he will serve an additional two years on licence and will be subject to a violent offenders protection order for five years.