A woman who was blinded in one eye by a "charming Irishman" she saw as a brother has spoken of his "Jekyll and Hyde" character and the devastating impact of his temper.
Paul Reid, 47, was jailed for 28 months after he threw an ornament at his partner's sister leaving her feared that she would lose her eye.
The day after the attack he packed his bags and left for Ireland - ending a 17-year relationship.
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Sitting in the dock at Preston Crown Court, Reid seemed smart and well presented. Letters in support of his good character were handed to the judge and the court heard he had never been in trouble with the law, Lancashire Live reports.
But the day after he was sent to prison, Reid's former partner of 17 years, Jacquie O'Regan, 58, and her sister Gina Wignall, 52, told of a different side to the "charming Irishman" who unleashed his violence on Gina in July 2020.
The O'Regan family are close knit and when Gina separated from her husband she moved in to a house in Chorley, next door to where Jacquie lived with Paul Reid. "It was a safe place to be", said Gina. "My sister was next door, Paul was there.
"He was good with me. He would help with things for the house and if they were going out he would invite me along."
But when Reid had a drink, the sisters said his character changed and he would become argumentative, opinionated and controlling.
"I got to the point where I stopped going out with him", said Jacquie. "Every time there would be something at the end of the night, an argument with a taxi driver or some kind of disagreement."
On July 26, 2020, the family planned a get-together at the sister's houses with the men gathering at Jacquie's house to watch sport and the two sisters and their mum enjoying a pamper evening at Gina's. Jacquie had spent the day preparing food and getting the house ready, and over the course of the evening she popped between the two houses through the back gate which connected the two gardens.
"The mood was lovely", said Jacquie. "The lads were there enjoying the music, we were having a glass of wine. It was a lovely evening in both houses."
Around midnight Reid knocked on Gina's door and told the women to come next door. "He was boisterous, silly and bouncing around", Gina said. But when he dropped his pants and pulled a moony the women's parent's decided it was time to leave.
Jacquie said: "Paul saw them out to the taxi and when he appeared, it was like a different person had come into the room. He was edgy, confrontational and wanted a row. He clapped his hands together and said 'right.... what the f*** is all this Black Lives Matter?' It was like, 'here we go... Let's start'."
Reid continued to rant about the church, and about the singer Prince, who he was putting obscene allegations against. "It was heated", said Gina.
"My brother Eugene left and myself, my other brother Adrian and my nephew Jack went back to my house but I could hear Jacquie next door saying 'don't push me.'" Gina said.
"I was asking him, 'why have you ruined a lovely evening", said Jacquie. "He was right up to me and he was that angry there was spit coming out of his mouth and he was shouting at me. He pushed me and he'd never been physically violent to me before.
"It was a shock. I said 'do not push me' and he did it again. Gina, my brother and my nephew were stood on the patio next door and they could hear me shouting."
"I couldn't leave her there", said Gina. "I went back in and said to him 'enough. Just stop."
Reid grabbed Gina by her top and threw her on the sofa, punching her. Her brother Adrian pulled her to safety and her nephew Jack restrained Reid. As things seemed to calm down, Jack released Reid but he jumped up and grabbed an ornament from the conservatory windowsill.
"He pulled it back with his arm with such force, I shouted 'no'", said Jacquie. "We were in a conservatory. He was going to cause damage to something or someone."
As the vase hit Gina's face her vision went straight away. Blood poured down her face and her iris was hanging from the socket on her cheek. "My world turned black", she said.
"The rush of pain and the panic I felt holding my eye as the blood poured down my face will never leave me. I was afraid of who in my family he would harm next."
Gina was taken to Wigan Royal Infirmary before being transferred to Manchester Eye Hospital for further treatment. Surgeons battled to save her eyeball, which had shrunk, and tried to save her sight. Sadly she was never to see out of her left eye again. In October 2020, after three operations, doctors broke the news to Gina that her sight would never return.
Gina said: "Each time, we'd think 'this time they might', but then you come round after the operation and nothing's changed. It's soul destroying."
Jacquie said "I felt responsible. That was the worst part. I felt awful that my sister would never see again. Every appointment knocked her back again. Then we had to go and tell our mum and my mum just collapsed, and our dad was dying of cancer. It was a very difficult time."
Gina said: "I had the dread of calling my son in Australia and telling him over Facetime why I looked the way I did and trying to explain the injuries Paul inflicted on me. I had to tell him I wouldn't be able to use the plane tickets he had bought for my 50th birthday to go and see my grandson because I no longer felt confident or able to make the journey with such vastly limited sight."
The day after the attack, Jacquie spoke to Reid and told him Gina may lose her sight. She said Reid became aggressive before packing his bags and leaving for Ireland.
"That was it", she said. "I didn't see him again. A 17 year relationship, gone.
"Two weeks later he gave me an hour's notice to say he was coming to collect his stuff. There was a van outside with two lads in it waiting. Everything he owned, I'd packed ready to pick up. When he got home I panicked and ran to ask a neighbour to help me bring his bags to the driveway. Everything was bagged, labelled and wrapped. That is how conditioned I was.
He turned up and came to the front door. He asked for his TV, and so I gave him his TV. He asked for the Virgin boxes, and then in this order he asked for his Nutribullet, his fridge magnets and his mugs.
"Then after that he just said, 'how's Gina?'. I said 'how dare you?'. He didn't show any remorse. He was cocky, right up until the sentence. How can you be like that? She was like a sister to him."
Gina said: "I never blocked him on anything. I left all channels open to him to say sorry. In the court he said he wanted to say sorry but he had been told not to. It wasn't till a year later that there were any conditions put in."
Gina is now beginning to rebuild her life, but she says the impact of the attack still looms large. She changed her role with Parcelforce, where she has worked for 30 years, to work from home in a non-customer facing role as she was uncomfortable with people looking at her eye, and she had to learn to drive again with a modified vehicle.
"It is simple things too", she said. "I can't put eyeshadow on because you have to close one eye and I can't see. Shaving under my arms is difficult.
"Some days I feel better but there are days when my eye hurts or it itches. I am just glad I have such a good family and good friends. I a just glad I have had those people to help me along the way."
Doctors have made a coloured contact lens to improve the appearance of Gina's eye, but her left eye is visibly smaller than her right. She said: "I feel self-conscious and embarrassed, especially after a male colleague who saw me said, without meaning any harm, 'you eyes were one of your best features.' That hurt so much. "
Gina has been left so frightened by the attack she has had extra security fitted to her home and a direct police notification alarm installed.
"The one thing I always said was 'when I die they can take everything except my eyes.' I used to have lovely, big brown eyes. Not anymore."
Paul Reid, of Rectory Close, Birkenhead, was sentenced to 28 months in prison for the attack on Gina.
Gina said: "I'm glad he has got justice. I'm glad he will have this on his record. His aggressive, threatening, bullying behaviour is what put him in jail, while I am left with monocular vision, scarring to my face and a whole new lifestyle to adjust to."
Jacquie added: "He presented himself as a professional. He was a good fork lift instructor and people liked him, but they didn't see this other side of him. It was laid bare in court. He was like Jekyll and Hyde."
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