‘Grotesque’ wife jailed for abusing husband ‘night after night’ during 19-year marriage

A woman who stabbed her husband with the sharp metal point of an electric toothbrush and repeatedly hit him with a rolling pin has been jailed.

Helen Thornton, 45, abused her partner ‘almost night after night’ during their 19-year marriage, a court heard.

Despite this, he still made every effort to ‘love and support her’, Hull Crown Court heard.

He eventually summoned the courage to report her and she was later charged with assault causing actual bodily harm and another of controlling and coercive behaviour.

She denied both offences but was found guilty last November and was jailed for two years and given a 10-year restraining order at Hull Crown Court last week.

Sentencing the former BT telephonist, of Grimsby, judge John Thackray KC said: ‘You made his life a misery and it’s not less serious because it was committed in a domestic setting, it’s more serious because it involved a breach of trust.

‘Your husband was entitled to feel safe and secure in his home and in the company of his wife.’

‘It’s not less serious because you are a female. That doesn’t make any difference whatsoever.

The court heard the man suffered abuse and attacks ‘almost night after night’.

Thornton threatened to make false allegations against him which could have damaged his career, which prompted him to start recording their conversations to protect himself.

After the case, the man, who is in the process of divorcing her, told a reporter at Grimsby Live: ‘I just don’t want her to hurt anyone else.’ 

Thornton was remanded in custody from before the trial after she repeatedly breached her bail conditions.

The court that last February her husband was left suffering serious bruises after she beat him with a rolling pin. 

And in 2018, police were called to an assault where he was stabbed with the sharp side of an electric toothbrush, but the man decided not to take the matter further.

The judge also spoke of how the man’s ‘love and support’ toward Thornton was abused in the most ‘grotesque’ way.

‘He was very much in love with you for a long time but you abused that love in a most grotesque way night after night,’ he said.

‘You abused and assaulted your husband, who did his best to love and support you in every way possible.’

John Dunning, mitigating, said alcoholism clearly played a role in Thornton’s actions.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.