After years trapped in a relationship with an abusive monster, Tanya Taylor felt she had no escape.
Chris Taylor kept an arsenal of weapons. He sent nude pictures of her to a friend. And when she threatened to leave him, he said he'd kill himself.
On one occasion, when Tanya caught him watching pornography, the unpredictable Taylor ran out into the street - naked.
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The 60-year-old used his wife's details to catfish other men on the internet. And when a friend of the couple spotted the account, Taylor became aggressive, LancsLive reports.
Christopher would always make Tanya believe she was in the wrong. If she challenged him, he used the threat of violence – or actual violence, such as punching the wall near where she was standing – to control her.
She said: “Over the years I simply felt that there was no escape from constant abuse. Most of it happened behind closed doors within the family home and involved just myself and Christopher."
Tanya "felt unloved" but "couldn’t escape what was happening". Her husband isolated her from her family in his bid to control 'every aspect of her life'.
In court this week, she said she believed Christopher was capable of killing her and "she was going to end up dead”. She finally managed to escape and expose the monster who had ruined her life.
Between 2016 and 2022 Christopher Taylor, of Athens View, Athletic Street, Burnley subjected his wife to a campaign of horrific abuse. He sent private photographs to her friend and forced her to have his name tattooed onto his body.
Taylor kept an arsenal of weapons at the family home in Athletic Street, Burnley, including air rifles, daggers, a whip and imitation stun guns. He punched walls to intimidate his partner and withheld medicine after she suffered a stroke.
“You controlled and coerced your wife in a large number of ways over the years”, Judge Philip Parry, sentencing, told him.
In September 2022, Taylor’s wife Tanya, 56, summoned the courage to report her abusive husband to the police. He pleaded guilty to coercive and controlling behaviour and three counts of possession of offensive weapons.
Bob Sastry, prosecuting, told Preston Crown Court Taylor used his wife’s details to catfish men on the internet. When a friend spotted her profile and told her about it, Taylor acted in a jealous and aggressive manner - even though he had created the profiles. When Tanya caught her husband watching porn in 2018, he ran out into the street naked.
In 2022, Taylor sent a nude photo of his wife to a friend, and when confronted about the betrayal, Taylor again became aggressive, the court heard. He punched walls in the house, including one close to his wife’s head, to intimidate her.
On one occasion, Taylor held a knife to his chest and tried to goad his wife into stabbing him. He often threatened to kill himself if she left, the court heard.
He tracked her movements and isolated her from friends and family. When Tanya eventually called time on her abusive marriage and went to stay with her daughter, Taylor left a threatening voicemail, intending it to get back to his wife. Even after he was arrested and remanded into custody, Taylor phoned and wrote letters to his wife.
Joe Allman, defending, told the court the communication was a misguided attempt to apologise. But in a victim statement, Tanya said: “Hearing Chris’s voice when he called me from prison was awful. It was the one place I thought he couldn’t get me. I knew I had to be strong but he was making me feel guilty, like it was my fault he was in prison.”
Tanya said the abuse made her feel anxious, depressed and ashamed. “I felt unloved but couldn’t escape what was happening to me. l was isolated from my family, l had become isolated to extended family”, she said.
“Christopher wanted to control of every aspect of my life…. I actually truly believe Christopher was capable of killing me and I was going to end up dead.”
In a presentence report, Taylor said: “All I ever did was care for her.” He said he suffered with bipolar disorder and trauma from his early life but since being remanded into custody is undertaking treatment to address his mental health struggles.
Judge Parry said Tanya was particularly vulnerable in the last three years since she suffered a stroke and relied on her husband to support her. He jailed Taylor for 25 months for controlling and coercive behaviour with an extra two months to run concurrently for each of the offences of possession of an offensive weapon.
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