Domestic violence is a huge issue across the UK with both men and women suffering abuse in their own homes.
The problem was worsened during the coronavirus lockdown, with the restrictions effectively trapping victims alone with their violent abuser.
Reports of domestic violence rocketed in 2020, with many culprits previously unknown to the police.
Read more: Go here for the latest reports and live updates from North East courts
Thankfully, although it can be an ordeal to come forward, the police and the courts are able to punish the perpetrators and get justice for the victims.
Not all of the abuse can be physical, and coercive control is now recognised as illegal.
We've rounded up seven men who were convicted of crimes against women and were labelled as controlling in court.
Tony Ash
Tony Ash, of Heaton, subjected his former partner to a shocking attack in her Byker flat that left her fearing he would kill her.
Ash, 30, appeared in court last month after he held his terrified victim "hostage" in her own home, attacking her with a metal broom and knocking her unconscious with a kettle.
He left his ex-partner, a mum, drifting in and out of consciousness and with multiple injuries during a savage onslaught.
They had been together for around nine months but split not long before the attack last October.
Omar Ahmad, prosecuting, told Newcastle Crown Court : "She was assaulted by him physically and he controlled her movements, such as by locking her in the home. On the few occasions she was let out, he would demand she came back."
Ash, 30, of Rothbury Terrace, Heaton, Newcastle, who has 91 previous convictions, pleaded guilty to inflicting grievous bodily harm and a separate charge of failing to provide a sample and was jailed for 26 weeks and given a ten-year restraining order.
Ross Flynn
Ross Flynn subjected his partner to a campaign of abuse, isolating her from her friends and verbally and physically abusing her.
The violent control freak launched a shocking attack on the woman because she said she found her ex - who is dead - more attractive than Cristiano Ronaldo.
The woman began a relationship with Flynn last February and within four weeks had moved in with him.
But things turned volatile and more and more violent and he became "extremely controlling and jealous".
When they went out, she had to be careful who she looked at or spoke to as he would accuse her of cheating.
She had to stop speaking to her male friends due to Flynn's behaviour and ended up feeling isolated.
She had also been a regular user of social media but he made her delete her profiles.
During the attack, she suffered extensive bruising and swelling around her eyes, face, a lump to her forehead, a cut to the back of her head and bruising to her forearms and hands.
Flynn, 31, of Russell Street, Stockton, pleaded guilty to two counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, controlling or coercive behaviour and criminal damage.
He was jailed for four years with an extended licence period of a further year.
Ross Turnbull
Ross Turnbull, of Byker, made his partner's life a misery by trying to control her and assaulting her
The control freak attacked his partner with a golf club, tried to force her into a bath and climbed up a drainpipe to sneak into her house in the dead of night.
She told him to leave but he later forced entry through a bathroom window to search her house, wrongly believing she had another man there.
Newcastle Crown Court heard that was the culmination of around three months of controlling and coercive behaviour by the bathroom fitter.
Andrew Walker, prosecuting, said: "If she went out he would constantly contact her asking where she was, telling her to come back.
"He would dictate what clothes she should wear."
Turnbull, of Wilfred Street, Byker, Newcastle, who has eight previous convictions, pleaded guilty to controlling or coercive behaviour and battery and was sentenced to ten months suspended for two years with £600 costs, rehabilitation and a requirement to do a "building better relationships" course. He was also given an indefinite restraining order.
Sean Robson
Domestic violence thug Sean Robson was branded a danger to women and jailed after he assaulted his new girlfriend just two weeks into their relationship.
He grabbed the mum by the hair and threw her into some plastic drawers.
The 22-year-old, of Rochester Close, Ashington, then caused damage to her property, demanded the terrified victim take him to his mother's and punched her in the face while she was driving.
Robson pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm, criminal damage and possessing cannabis.
He was jailed for two years and one month and made subject to an indefinite restraining order to protect the victim.
Judge Robert Spragg said pre-sentence reports showed he presents a high risk of further domestic violence.
The court heard Robson has previous convictions, including for controlling or coercive behaviour against another a former partner who he assaulted by grabbing her throat and throwing her to the floor, causing her to hit her head and burn her leg on a smoking pipe.
Gary Spry
A mum was strangled and made to punch herself by her boyfriend when they clashed after Sunday lunch as their relationship crumbled.
Gary Spry's relationship with his partner of seven years was on its last legs but he had continued to live with her due to Covid restrictions.
A petty row after lunch on May 10 ended with him laying hands on the woman, strangling her then grabbing her hands and making her hit herself.
Phillip Morley, prosecuting, told Newcastle Crown Court it was the culmination of a troubled relationship.
He said: "The complainant said the relationship was full of possessive behaviour and jealousy.
"He would control who she met, what she wore and who she would speak to and would accuse her of being unfaithful during the relationship, which she was not."
The victim, of Backworth, North Tyneside, suffered bruising and a sore jaw as a result of the attack and was left scared.
Spry, of 46, of Queen Alexandra Road, North Shields, pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm and was sentenced to 11 months suspended for 12 months with 100 hours unpaid work and rehabilitation.
Nicholas Camilleri
Violent thug Nicholas Camilleri stubbed a cigarette out on his girlfriend's face and tried to gouge her eyes out and bit her when she was pregnant in shocking attacks.
Camilleri, who started chatting to his victim over social media, launched his first assault within months of meeting her. The 38-year-old's last attack was when his victim was pregnant with his baby.
Newcastle Crown Court heard the couple travelled around the country together and the violence happened in London and Newcastle.
The court heard the 38-year-old told the victim to tell the doctor at the Princess Royal Hospital that she had fallen off a scooter.
She was later referred to the King's College Hospital for treatment to her injuries, where she initially claimed she had been in a road traffic accident.
X-rays revealed she had a fractured eye socket.
Camilleri, who is of no fixed address but is from London, admitted two charges of assault and one of assault on an emergency worker.
At the time of the violence, he was on bail for throwing a package into the grounds of HMP Ford in West Sussex in 2017, that contained 36 mobile phones, 43 sim cards, batteries and chargers.
He admitted conspiracy to throw a list B article into prison.
Recorder Carl Gumsley sentenced him to a total of four years and one month behind bars with a seven year restraining order to keep him away from the victim.
The judge told Camilleri: "It is clear you are, in my judgement, a violent man and, notwithstanding the difficulties you have experienced in your own life, you seek to control and humiliate women."
Shane Hellens
A dangerous 'monster', Shane Hellens left his terrified partner looking 'like a torture victim' by attacking her with a blowtorch, shovel and his dog.
Sadistic Hellens subjected the woman to "unimaginable cruelty" in a series of shocking episodes of disturbing violence.
A court heard he started displaying controlling behaviour within weeks of starting a relationship with her, smashing her phones and ripping up her clothes while flying into jealous rages.
The 31-year-old bully became increasingly violent and threw jars and bottles at her head, emptied rubbish from the bin over her, repeatedly punched and kicked her and let his dog bite her four times.
When challenged by her worried mum, he told her the bruises all over her body were "to heal her".
Newcastle Crown Court heard that on one occasion he was in the toilet of his "torture cabin" and called to ask if she wanted a cigarette but when she put her hand in she felt excruciating pain as he used a blowtorch on her.
He then spent the following days grabbing the badly wounded hand, causing terrible pain and preventing it from healing.
Despite being arrested, he went on to inflict even worse injuries, assaulting her with garden tools and breaking her ankle and arm.
Hellens, who lived with his mother, of Hexham Avenue, Walker, Newcastle, has been jailed for six years and three months and was branded a danger by a judge.
For daily news from the North East's courts direct to your inbox, go here to sign up to our free court newsletter
