HARROGATE MAN JAILED FOR COERCIVE ABUSE IN PARTNER
An abusive boyfriend who humiliated and intimidated his girlfriend and controlled her movements around her home has been jailed.The abuse included Cowlishaw, 57, blaming her for the death of his former girlfriend by telling her she had “blood on her hands”, said Michael Cahill, prosecuting.
She told York Crown Court: "Every day I feel such a deep and overwhelming sadness and confusion trying to understand how someone could tell me they love me yet treat me in a way that was so incredibly cruel." Recorder Patrick Palmer said Cowlishaw was a high risk to any future partner.
A probation officer told the court Cowlishaw had tried to blame his partner for his crimes.
Cowlishaw, 57, of East Parade in Harrogate, pleaded guilty to coercive behaviour towards a partner, was jailed for 16 months and made subject to a restraining order banning him from contacting his latest partner or going near her address or place of work for 10 years.
Mr Cahill said Cowlishaw had hidden his new relationship from his former partner, letting her think he was living as a single man when in reality he had moved in with his new partner.
Over four years, he made life for his new partner increasingly more intolerable until she finally managed to leave him by telling him she was going to work and instead going straight to the police station.
Police arrested Cowlishaw, and released him on bail with conditions not to contact the new partner.
He broke the conditions within a day by sending her a message via Facebook and then standing outside her home for hours.
He was rearrested and remanded in custody.
Outside court, Det Con David Whitehouse said: "The victim has shown great courage in reporting this abuse to police, putting an end to this abusive relationship which she had endured over an extended period.
I hope Cowlishaw's sentence goes some way in helping the victim with closure and moving forward with her life with the help of her family and support network." The trauma he had suffered as a result of the two deaths had now led to him losing the third person – his new partner.
He knew what he had to do to and being remanded in custody had been a shock to him.
He had never been in jail before.
