My ex failed to kill me once – so came back & poured fuel through my front door, if my baby hadn’t woken I would’ve died
A young woman has described how her evil ex-boyfriend plotted to set her home on fire while she slept inside with her two young children – including his own daughter.
Cory Evans, aged 26, set a car alight outside the property, which created flames so big it spread to a second car, cracked the family home’s windows and left Chloe Wallis, 24, and her young daughters covered in black soot.
Three days on, he planned a second fire – this time pouring petrol through the letterbox as the family slept. It was only thanks to Chloe’s older daughter struggling to sleep that the family was awake and the attack was foiled.
Evans and his three accomplices were jailed last week for a total of 30 years.
Chloe says: “We could so easily have died, and that goes through my mind over and over. I have barely slept for over a year, worrying it would happen again.
In prison… where he belongs
“I had no support after the attacks, we lived in hotels and with relatives because we were too scared to go back home. Now he is in prison, where he belongs, we can finally start to live again.”
Chloe was already mum to her older daughter, now five, when she met Cory through mutual friends in October 2020.
She says: “He seemed really charming, easy-going and romantic. He was funny and friendly and there were no signs at all of what was to come. He promised me the perfect family and I wanted to believe him.”
How you can get help
Women's Aid has this advice for victims and their families:
- Always keep your phone nearby.
- Get in touch with charities for help, including the Women’s Aid live chat helpline and services such as SupportLine.
- If you are in danger, call 999.
- Familiarise yourself with the Silent Solution, reporting abuse without speaking down the phone, instead dialing “55”.
- Always keep some money on you, including change for a pay phone or bus fare.
- If you suspect your partner is about to attack you, try to go to a lower-risk area of the house – for example, where there is a way out and access to a telephone.
- Avoid the kitchen and garage, where there are likely to be knives or other weapons. Avoid rooms where you might become trapped, such as the bathroom, or where you might be shut into a cupboard or other small space.
If you are a victim of domestic abuse, SupportLine is open Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 6pm to 8pm on 01708 765200. The charity’s email support service is open weekdays and weekends during the crisis – messageinfo@supportline.org.uk.
Women’s Aid provides a live chat service – available weekdays from 8am-6pm and weekends 10am-6pm.
You can also call the freephone 24-hour National Domestic Abuse Helpline on 0808 2000 247.
Chloe became pregnant over summer 2021 and Evans became threatening and abusive.
She says: “He was really pleased when I first told him I was pregnant. He said he wanted a baby. But then his behaviour changed. If we argued, and I answered him back, he’d threaten me.
“It was all about control, about his big ego, as though he could do what he liked now I was carrying his baby. He was not physically abusive but he would say ‘sleep with one eye open tonight’ and ‘I know where you live’.
“He threatened to take me up the mountains and rip off my finger and toe nails. We split up because of his behaviour, but he kept on with the threats. I tried to stay friendly with him, for the sake of the baby, and also because I was frightened of him.
“One night my front door was smashed. I couldn’t prove who it was, but it scared me.”
In April 2022, three months after their daughter was born, Chloe finished the relationship for good. But the threats continued, and in October 2022, when Evans heard she had met a new partner, Ryan, he was infuriated.
She says: “He didn’t like me having a new partner at all. But even though the threats were there I really didn’t think he would do anything, especially because his daughter was in the house too.”
But on April 2, 2023, Chloe woke at 1.20am to a loud bang outside. She looked out to see flames as big as her house, and two cars on fire.
She says: “My partner and brother’s car were on fire and my living room windows were cracked. We were all covered with soot and coughing but luckily we got out safely.”
He was not physically abusive but he would say ‘sleep with one eye open tonight’ and ‘I know where you live’
Chloe Wallis
Chloe took her children to stay in a hotel overnight and pleaded with social services to find her emergency accommodation. But instead, she had to go back home.
She says: “I didn’t feel it was safe for us to be back at the house. We moved all our belongings away from the window and we all slept in one room together. I was too terrified to sleep and the tension rubbed off on my daughters.”
Three days after the first attack, Chloe’s partner, Ryan, was awake late at night, trying to settle her daughter, when he heard a sound at the front door. He caught a man pouring petrol through the letterbox and was able to interrupt the attack.
I was too terrified to go outside in case they were waiting for me. We crept out through the back door, fearing for our lives.
Chloe Wallis
Chloe says: “The man was seconds away from setting the petrol alight. We could all have died. I called 999. The operator told me to get out of the house but I was too terrified to go outside in case they were waiting for me. We crept out through the back door, fearing for our lives.”
Chloe claims she has no support after the attack, and only after weeks of paying for hotels and staying with relatives, the council eventually offered her temporary accommodation. After this, she had no choice but to return home.
It was terrifying to think there were complete strangers out there who were willing to harm me and my children.
Chloe Wallis
She says: “For a year, I barely slept. I was expecting another attack. Every time I heard a noise in the night, I was petrified. I found out Cory and three other people had been arrested. I didn’t even know who the others were. It was terrifying to think there were complete strangers out there who were willing to harm me and my children.”
Over a year later, Chloe and her older daughter are still waiting for counselling and help.
She says: “I felt totally let down. I felt failed by all the agencies who were supposed to be helping me.”
Paid in crack cocaine
Last week Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court was told how Evans convinced three other feckless criminals to “do his dirty work for him”.
Drug-hungry married couple Carl Rowe, 42, and Danielle Lewis-Rowe, 38, were paid by Evans in crack cocaine for their participation – as well as Evans’ friend Paul James, 40.
The sentencing hearing heard Rowe drove his wife and James to Chloe’s house, stopping on the way to pick up a jerry can and accelerant.
Arriving in the middle of the night, James jumped out of the car and approached the property with the can full of petrol. He is seen on CCTV footage being spooked by a security light, before making a second attempt 30 minutes later and successfully pouring the liquid into the letterbox.
What kind of monster sets fire to a house with his own child inside?
Chloe Wallis
What happened next, when Chloe’s partner interrupted the attack, was described by Judge Eugene Egan as a potentially “life-saving event”. He said it allowed the family “the narrowest of narrow escapes”, and predicted that without it, James would have lit the petrol on fire within the next few moments.
The court heard how, during a later police interview, Evans boasted that he has “got it in [him] to commit murder”.
Evans was convicted of arson with recklessness as to whether life was endangered, and attempted arson with intent to endanger life.
He was jailed for 15 years.
James, Rowe, and Lewis-Rowe, were found guilty of attempting to commit arson while being reckless as to whether life was endangered. James was jailed for six years, Rowe for five years and his wife Lewis-Rowe for four years.
Chloe says: “We could so easily have died, and that goes through my mind over and over. I have been so worried it would happen again.
“I had no support after the attacks, which made me feel that we didn’t matter.
“But I hope the court case can be a turning point. We’ve moved to a new house and slowly, I am learning to look to the future. My children are so young and deserve to enjoy their childhoods in safety. I hope this is a new start for us all.
“What kind of monster sets fire to a house with his own child inside? I am just relieved that Cory Evans is behind bars at last.”