Ex soldier who beat girlfriend into a coma outside Wakefield Tesco screamed: 'She's the love of my life'

Benjamin Swindells is on trial for attempted murder of the woman in Wakefield earlier this year. He initially claimed two men attacked them as they made their way home late at night.

The 30-year-old later admitted GBH with intent, but refutes that he intended to kill her.

A jury at Leeds Crown Court was told that neighbours watched Swindells dishing out a savage beating, kicking, stamping and punching her as she lay unconscious on the pavement outside the Tesco Express store on Barnsley Road just after midnight on April 13.

Body-worn camera footage from the arriving police was played for the jury, showing a hysterical Swindells clinging on to his unconscious partner. He refused to let go of her and had to be prised away.

On the footage he could be heard screaming: “Are you alright baby? I will do anything to protect you baby girl.”

He is then heard to say: “She’s the love of my life. I will protect you with my life.”

Held on the floor by officers, he is heard to shout towards an officer “just kill me” and crying, saying: “I have had enough of this life.”

He was also heard repeatedly shouting that he had served in Afghanistan.

Giving evidence, a neighbour who had first contacted police said he witnessed Swindells “repeatedly” aim full-blown kicks towards the lifeless woman’s head and scream at her to get up. He said he saw him rip her top from her body and was she covered in blood.

The victim was put into a coma at hospital. Video evidence she later gave to police was also played for the jury. On the video, her eye and head could still be seen heavily swollen. She said she had known Swindells for around 14 years but they had only been together around a year.

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She said he smoked crack cocaine “every day” and would ask her to borrow money from people so he could buy the drug.

She said he would become paranoid, changing her passwords to her social media accounts and controlling whom she could be in contact with. She said he would also call her a “cheating b****”.

In the months before Christmas last year, she said he attacked her with a small pair of scissors he would use to clean his crack pipe, stabbing her in the throat. The woman also said he “cracked” her in the eye on another occasion.

She confirmed that Swindells suffered from PTSD from his experiences in the Armed Forces.

The trial continues.