Doncaster man jailed for subjecting ex-partner to beatings and threatening to kill her and her eight-year-old son

“Being abused by someone you love is the worst kind of betrayal you can experience,’ an abuse victim said, as the Doncaster man who subjected her to beatings and threatened to murder her and her young son was jailed.
Thomas HooksThomas Hooks
Thomas Hooks

Defendant, Thomas Hooks, held his head in his hands, as the heartbreaking victim personal statement of his former partner was read to Sheffield Crown Court today. 

“I have found that being abused by someone you love is the worst kind of betrayal you can experience. This has made me think it’s almost impossible to imagine a life where I’m happy,” said the woman. 

Thomas HooksThomas Hooks
Thomas Hooks
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She added: “Now I feel that I can’t trust anyone again, including myself.” 

Susan Evans, prosecuting, described how as the relationship between Hooks, aged 42, and the complainant began to deteriorate, Hooks began monitoring her calls and text messages and demanded access to her social media accounts. 

Matters came to a head during a series of violent incidents in March this year. 

On the first occasion, Hooks, of Truro Avenue, Wheatley Hills dragged the complainant into her bedroom after becoming enraged that she had not made him any food. 

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“He demanded she take her clothes off and cuddle him, but she refused to,” said Ms Evans. 

The following day, Hooks became angry again over a drawing the complainant’s eight-year-old son had done of his mother and father, because it did not include him. 

“He pulled her on to the bed and put a pillow over her face. Her son came into the room to see if she was alright,” said Ms Evans. 

The complainant managed to get away from Hooks, and took her son to his room in attempt to reassure him that everything was alright, the court heard. 

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Hooks subsequently got a bag of dust sheets that the couple had been using to decorate and ordered the complainant to put one on her head when she returned to the bedroom.

But when she refused, he ripped her shirt off and put the dust sheets by the side of the bed. 

Hooks subsequently told her: “This is the night I murder you, and your c*** of a son.”

He then put a 10-inch knife to her temple, before moving it to her throat, while asking her if she was going to ‘watch her son die’. 

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Hooks then put the knife in the complainant’s hand and told her to stab him, but she left the room instead. 

He pleaded guilty to two counts of assault by beating and one count of making threats to kill at an earlier hearing. 

Joy Merriam, defending, told the court that Hooks was a dad-of-three who had no previous convictions, and prior to this spate of offending, had led an otherwise ‘blameless and industrious life’. 

“What happened in this relationship is quite difficult to comprehend, it’s clear that she deeply loved him and he deeply loved her, but something went terribly wrong,” said Ms Merriam. 

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She added that Hooks had always struggled with an alcohol problem, but it had recently begun to ‘spiral out of control’. 

Ms Merriam said that since his remand into custody, Hooks had managed to overcome his alcohol problems and now hoped to become an alcohol counsellor so he can ‘help others’ and stop them from falling into the ‘same terrible pattern of offending he has’. 

Judge Peter Kelson QC jailed Hooks for three years, and granted a restraining order, banning him from contacting the complainant until a further order of the court is made. 

He described Hooks’ behaviour towards the complainant as ‘dreadful, controlling and coercive’. 

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“Your risk of harm is assessed as being a high risk of serious harm to your victim and any future partners. You are also assessed as being a high risk to any children in any future relationships. That’s worrying in the extreme,” added Judge Kelson. 

- South Yorkshire Police have been asked to provide a custody image of Hooks