The girlfriend of a dangerous gun thug bravely helped to put him back behind bars when she dialled 999 and whispered: "He's going to kill me."
Adele Bradshaw made the chilling call to emergency services from her bathroom after having her eye socket broken by woman-beater John Davies.
In the call, brave Adele tells the 999 call handler: "I've been badly beaten up by my partner. He's coming up the stairs. He's going to kill me."
The Liverpool Echo reports that Liverpool Crown Court was told how an argument had broken out the morning after the couple had gone for a night out. But Davies didn't like the fact that Adele had been in a group that included a black female friend.
Ben Jones, prosecuting, said Davies gave Adele a lift back to her home, at around 2.30am, after a night out on January 30 this year.
"The defendant was unhappy she had been in a group that included a female black friend," he told the court, "She says the defendant made a number of racist and disparaging remarks about the friend."
Davies had got a job at Network Rail after being released from prison in October 2020. He had been jailed for 18 years for possessing a handgun and conspiring to supply cocaine.
At the time of his release, the 46-year-old vowed he was "determined to lead a law-abiding lifestyle". But he is now back behind bars.
Adele told the court they had been in a relationship for around a year. However, Davies said they "supported each other with their various problems and were occasionally intimate" but denied they were in a relationship.
Mr Jones said: "She describes him as 'spoiling for an argument'. The defendant was pushing his fists together as if to intimidate her and eventually, when she was sitting on a couch, he punched her in the face while shouting 'I will f***ing kill you'."
The court heard he punched her another three to four times and she lost count due to her "shock". Mr Jones said after the attack, he was still aggressive and "wouldn't let her out of his sight".
Eventually, she asked to use the toilet and went to the bathroom and rang the police at 11.42am.
The line then went dead but officers arrived shortly afterwards. Davies tried to get Adele to hide, then fled into the back garden.
Mr Jones said Davies injured his face while trying to escape over a fence and was arrested.
Adele was taken to hospital, where she was found to have "a closed fracture of the orbital facial bone", but fortunately her eye was not damaged.
Davies tried to lay the blame on Adele and even claimed to be the victim of domestic violence.
"He initially stated she had fallen, banging her eye due to being in drink, and alleged he had been assaulted by her, causing his injury with a bottle," Mr Jones said.
He added: "The police were careful to check. There was no blood in the house. It was found on the fence."
Davies, of Fishers Lane, Pensby, later admitted wounding.
The court heard he has convictions dating back to when he was a boy, including burglaries as a teenager.
He was convicted of assault in 1991, assault causing actual bodily harm in 1992, assault in 2003 and wounding in 2004.
In March 2010 he was convicted of causing grievous bodily harm with intent and given the IPP, with a recommended minimum term of three and a half years.
In June 2011 he was jailed for 18 years for the cocaine plot and having a gun. Davies has since been convicted of assaulting an emergency worker in July 2019.
Charles Lander, defending, said Davies had been recalled on his Imprisonment for Public Protection order, meaning whatever sentence he received, he would not be released at the halfway stage.
He will instead have to convince the Parole Board he is no longer a risk to the public before he is released.
There was no victim personal statement or request for a restraining order from Adele, who wrote a letter in support of Davies.
Mr Lander said: "What she does say, Your Honour, is he has never acted like that with her before."
He said when released from jail, Davies made "very impressive strides" and was "determined to lead a law-abiding lifestyle".
The court heard Davies gained qualifications, started working on the railways and was described by his family as "a very much different man".
However, Mr Lander said at the time of the attack Davies - who didn't drink normally - had been drinking alcohol.
He said it was nearly the first anniversary of his mum's death and Davies had also been thinking about the tragic death of his then 17-year-old daughter in 2011, which happened shortly after he was locked up.
Mr Lander said: "He was let out to attend the chapel. Thereafter he's had to suffer and spend many years in prison thinking about the fact he missed the last days of his 17-year-old daughter."
Judge: 'She was clearly petrified'
He added that "clearly" Davies was in a relationship with Adele.
"She says he was kind, he was loving and he had achieved so much, so she was shocked by his behaviour," Mr Lander told the judge.
The judge, Recorder Ian Harris, told Davies it was a "domestic relationship", which "you breached significantly with your violence towards her".
He said police received a call from "a clearly petrified woman".
Recorder Harris said he was sure Davies suffered his injury while trying to escape and there was no evidence to support his claim Adele assaulted him.
The judge said he was "impressed" by the efforts Davies had made since being released from jail, "which allowed you to be employed full time by Network Rail".
He said: "It's of course a tragedy that your offending on this occasion has put paid to all those efforts."
Davies was jailed for 16 months, who replied: "Thanks, Your Honour - I'm sorry for everything that's gone on."
