A violent and abusive woman who left her husband living in fear and trapped in their marriage for 20 years has been jailed.
Sheree Spencer punched, kicked, slapped and bit her husband during persistent "nasty" attacks, a court was told.
Spencer, 45, a heavy drinker, hit him with a wine bottle, leaving him with a "cauliflower" ear and a chipped elbow, Hull Live reports.
The attacks left him in fear and despair and feeling trapped, Hull Crown Court heard.
Police received 43 photographs of injuries inflicted by the former Ministry of Justice employee on her husband, and two hours of recorded incidents - the judge said it could not be "overstated how shocking" it was.
Spencer, 45, of Beals Close, Market Weighton in East Yorkshire, admitted coercive and controlling behaviour between January 2016 and June 2021 and three offences of assaulting her husband, causing actual bodily harm, between January and April 2020.
She was sometimes drinking three bottles of wine a day, the court heard.
Michele Stuart-Lofthouse, prosecuting, said they had been together as a couple since the year 2000 and lived in Bubwith, near Selby. They had three young children and Spencer's violent behaviour towards her husband was revealed after the police were alerted.
During one incident, Spencer spat at her husband and grabbed him by the throat, giving him breathing difficulties. Her behaviour had changed while the couple were living in London and she became aggressive, pushing and slapping him.
She hit him on the back of the head with a wine glass, causing an injury that needed stitches. The husband handed over 43 photographs of injuries, 36 video clips and nine mobile phone recordings to the police.
The assaults included kicking, punching, hitting, biting and spitting at him and she regularly hurled insults at him. She damaged his property, including laptops, phones, clothes and household items.
Spencer's "unpredictable and threatening" behaviour caused her husband to become estranged from his family.
She caused him a disfigured ear during one attack with a wine bottle and a chipped elbow with one neighbour saying they regularly heard abusive language from Spencer towards him.
She was heard saying: "You're not a f***ing man. I want you out of my life." In one incident, she damaged a tyre on his car using a kitchen knife, she lunged at him with the knife, causing a 2cm cut below his knee.
Her husband said in a statement that he read to the court that he had suffered 20 years of physical and mental abuse that was damaging. He feared that he would never fully recover from the abuse and he felt that he had to hide it from friends and family.
He complied with her demands and she controlled all aspects of his daily life, including which room he could sleep in and which toilet he could use. "She threatened to make false allegations to me to the police," he said.
He felt "trapped" and he "feared the consequences of speaking out" and became "increasingly hardened" to the abuse, including kicking and punching. Spencer's husband said that, after she was arrested, the problems continued during Family Court hearings through her claiming that she was the victim and by using character assassination against him.
He had to defend himself against allegations. "She continued to exert her control over me," he said. She was "unnecessarily obstructive" and it was three months before she would allow the family home to be sold.
"I have had to seek help from my GP on several occasions," said the husband. His emotional wellbeing had deteriorated.
Defence barrister Richard Pratt KC said that there was "little if anything" that could be said in mitigation. "It's a shocking, distressing case," said Mr Pratt.
"Alcohol played the most significant part in what happened." A mixture of alcohol and her prescription medication caused her to behave in a way which "appalled" her and she accepted she had caused pain and humiliation to her husband.
"You have caused him significant psychological harm," said Judge Rayfield. "There is a history of violence and abuse against the same victim."
Spencer was jailed for four years and given an indefinite restraining order. As she left the dock to be taken down to the cells, she grinned.
