Possessive Leeds ex put woman 'through hell', threatening to kill her and blow up her mum's home

Callum Mortimer, who has a history of domestic abuse, was jailed at Leeds Crown Court for his campaign of hate against the woman he was in a relationship with.

The woman said she was undergoing therapy, was struggling to eat and sleep, left with“crippling anxiety” and “felt like a nobody”.

In a victim impact statement read out to the court, she said: “Two years of hell he put my family through. We are all suffering day to day. I can’t keep living like this. All I want is closure and justice for what he put me and family through.”

Prosecutor Gareth Henderson-Moore said the couple started out well, but due to Mortimer’s drink and drug use, he became paranoid that she was cheating on him.

He assaulted her on a number of occasions and would take her phone off her to check. The woman said she began to feel isolated and helpless.

During one incident, he was driving and he began punching and hitting her to her arm and face, knocking out a tooth.

The on October 28 last year, she was on a night out when he contacted her and demanded she meet him or he would put her widows through.

Feeling like she had no choice, she met him, and when they got home, she fell asleep and he went through her phone.

He then dragged her off the bed and began punching her and throwing her about. He also snapped her phone to prevent her calling for help and smashed a TV. He then grabbed her and put his hand over her mouth before she could get free.

Mortimer also locked all of the doors and windows preventing her from leaving. Hours later she persuaded him that she would not tell anyone and he allowed her to leave.

The 27-year-old, of Queenswood Drive, Headingley, admitted ABH and coercive control, but only after his trial had started. He appeared in court via video link from HMP Leeds where he was being held on remand.

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He has two previous convictions for five offences, including violence against a female.

Mitigating, Timothy Jacobs said Mortimer had support from his own family and since being locked up has been a “model prisoner”.

The judge, Recorder Andrew Latimer gave him 36 months’ jail, and a five-year restraining order.

He said: “You used multiple methods to achieve that control and coercion. There were threats of violence and you even knocked out one of her teeth.”