Domestic abuser who terrorised Kiena Dawes before she took her own life smiles as he is jailed
A violent bully who subjected his ex-girlfriend to two years of horrendous abuse before she took her own life was branded a ‘clear danger’ to women as he was jailed for six-and-a-half years.
Kiena Dawes was just 23 when she left her nine-month-old baby with a friend with a note on her phone saying: ‘I was murdered. Ryan Wellings killed me. He ruined every bit of strength I had left. I didn’t deserve it.’
Wellings, 30, was found guilty this week of assault and controlling and coercive behaviour but was cleared of Kiena’s manslaughter.
He was the first person to stand trial accused of the unlawful killing of a partner who ended their own life after suffering domestic abuse.
Prosecutor Paul Greaney KC told the court today that while Wellings was cleared of the charge of Kiena’s manslaughter, his coercive and controlling behaviour ‘set the scene for her death’.
‘Kiena was caused to feel – on many occasions – serious alarm and distress,’ he said.
‘This had a substantial effect on her and caused her significant psychological harm.’
He also pointed out that the case has ‘triggered an important public debate’.
Figures show more victims are now killing themselves than those being killed by their abusers.
There were 93 suspected suicides following domestic abuse between April 2022 and March 2023, while there were 80 intimate partner homicides.
Campaigners and experts are demanding a greater recognition of the ‘undeniable’ link between domestic abuse and suicide, along with better collation of the data to ensure the problem is understood and properly addressed.
The court heard Wellings had a previous convictions from the age of 16, including for burglary, criminal damage and battering another ex-girlfriend.
Hairdresser Kiena chronicled Wellings’s campaign of terror in a secret note on her phone.
It begins innocently enough, with ‘Food – tomatoes’ at the top, before descending into a harrowing account of abuse.
She described being labelled a ‘fat little f**k’ who does ‘s**t hair cuts’ and wrote: ‘No one will want me because I have stretch marks’.
One threat from Wellings she logged said: ‘I will throw your dad’s ashes out of the window with you.’
Jurors heard how Wellings repeatedly beat Kiena while she was pregnant, threatened to drown her in a bath, drill her teeth and ‘make her look like Katie Piper’ by pouring acid over her face.
Jailing him, Judge Robert Altham said: ‘Kiena Dawes was according to the accounts of many witnesses, a popular, vivacious, friendly and kind young woman.
‘You repeatedly assaulted and abused her. You would repeatedly hit her, in the messages she pleaded with you to stop hitting her.
‘Knowing her previous attempts at suicide and her fragile mental health, you repeatedly told her she may as well kill herself.’
He added: ‘You are a clear danger to any partner you have in the future.’
This Is Not Right
On November 25, 2024 Metro launched This Is Not Right, a year-long campaign to address the relentless epidemic of violence against women.
Throughout the year we will be bringing you stories that shine a light on the sheer scale of the epidemic.
With the help of our partners at Women's Aid, This Is Not Right aims to engage and empower our readers on the issue of violence against women.
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Read more:
- Introducing This Is Not Right: Metro's year-long violence against women campaign
- Yvette Cooper's message to abusers and rapists: The streets don't belong to you
- Remembering the women killed by men in 2024
- Stories about violence against women don't make an impact - this is why
- Men - we need your help to end violence against women
- What to do if your loved one is at risk from domestic abuse
In a victim impact statement, Kiena’s mum Angela Dawes spoke of how her granddaughter has suffered separation anxiety since her mother’s death and asks ‘where her Mummy is?’
Mrs Dawes said she felt the trial process had ‘violated’ her daughter again.
She added: ‘I have had to sit through an almost six-week trial and watch the private life of my daughter pulled apart and her mental health scrutinised and assessed. She has been violated. There is no other word for it.
‘It has also been extremely traumatic for me to see Kiena so upset talking to police officers and to look back retrospectively at her so helpless in life and reaching out for help, knowing what ultimately happened to her.
‘Watching videos of her crying and upset whilst also pregnant or cuddling her baby has been horrific.
‘It is hard enough to watch videos of her having fun and laughing. Ryan Wellings has put me through all that. He could have pleaded to the offences and we would never have faced all that, with the eyes of the public on us all.
‘This has been a trauma in itself.’
Kiena’s grandmother, Irene Ball, said: ‘Kiena was a very beautiful, kind and happy girl. I was extremely close to Kiena and she meant the world to me.
‘All Kiena wanted out of life was to be happy. It was extremely shocking to see my granddaughter hurt and with injuries to her beautiful face.
‘I have sat and listened to the evidence throughout the trial and have been sickened by what I have both seen and heard – the witness evidence, text messages, photographs and the videos. Kiena was loved by all of her family and friends and I will forever remember the good times. Her death is a huge loss and she will never be forgotten.’
Timeline of abuse suffered by Kiena Dawes: ‘Fairy tale turned to nightmare’
Kiena Dawes said her relationship with Ryan Wellings turned from ‘fairy tale to nightmare’.
Here is a timeline of the two years of abuse she suffered:
– January 26, 2020 – Kiena is introduced to father-of-two Wellings by her brother and an ‘intense’ relationship begins. He has tattoos of her face and name within a week of meeting.
– February 25, 2020 – the first hint of trouble, Kiena sends him a message, saying: ‘Stop hurting me now xxxx.’
– April 3, 2020 – Wellings proposes. She agrees.
– May 3, 2020 – Wellings, in drink, becomes jealous and angry and attempts to strangle Kiena with an iPhone charger cable, leaving her bruised and badly shaken up.
– May 29, 2020 – Wellings accuses Kiena of cheating and throws a stool at her, screaming she is a ‘slag’ and telling her to kill herself. He throws Ms Dawes to the ground and she cuts her foot on broken glass. He later apologises.
– July 20 2020 – Kiena’s father, Russell Dawes, who she is very close to, dies suddenly.
– August 28, 2020 – Ms Dawes sends text messages to Wellings saying: “You’ve f****** terrorised me… You’re a bully.”
– Christmas 2020 – Kiena tells Wellings she is leaving him. She is ‘ragged around’ by her hair and he demands money from her. Her mother tells Kiena to call police but she makes up with Wellings the next day.
– February 2021 – Kiena becomes pregnant. Wellings begins calling her ‘fat’ and starts talking to prostitutes and escorts online. She has to stop taking medication and her mental health condition deteriorates.
– February 20, 2021 – Kiena is admitted to a mental hospital for three weeks feeling suicidal. Wellings tells her no one believes her complaints about him due to her mental issues and her unborn child would be taken from her.
– April 17, 2021 – Kiena kicks Wellings out of her flat because he was cheating. Wellings threatens to torch her car, updates his Facebook profile to show him sitting in a car, smiling and holding a lighter.
– May 8, 2021 – Wellings smashes up the home-made shrine of candles and a photo Kiena had made of her late father. He threatens to flush her father’s ashes down the toilet.
– July 5, 2021 – Kiena, six months pregnant, is given a black eye by Wellings. She rang the police but before they arrive he tells her they will take their unborn child off them. When officers arrive she tells them it was just a verbal argument. Wellings apologises and promises not to do it again.
– August 2, 2021 – Kiena sends a WhatsApp to Wellings of some of the things he has said to her: ‘You think your life is hell now, when the baby gets here I’ll make it f****** hell… You’re a fat little bitch. Your (family) are dossers. You’ve got a shit life. No one loves you. Stop f****** crying.’
– August 4, 2021 – Kiena calls police for a second time, saying the couple had split but Wellings was trying to take her property from their flat. She tells officers Wellings had assaulted her in the past.
– September 23, 2021 – Kiena sends Wellings a message, ‘You’ve raised your fist to me twice this week… You’ll never change.’
– October 13, 2021 – Ms Dawes gives birth to their daughter.
– November 21, 2021 – Kiena’s mother Angela calls 999 saying Wellings was refusing to leave their flat, with Ms Dawes complaining he was ‘terrorising’ her.
– Christmas 2021 – During a row Wellings turns his cordless drill on and puts it to Ms Dawes’s face, threatening to drill her teeth out.
– January 4, 2022 – Kiena calls the National Domestic Abuse Helpline reporting abuse and violence from Wellings.
– March 11, 2022 – Kiena is bathing their daughter and Wellings grabs her head and dunks it in the baby bath, threatening to drown her.
– March 15, 2022 – Kiena makes her first witness statement to police after calling 999, reporting domestic violence. Wellings is arrested on suspicion of assault. However she tells police she does not want to pursue a complaint and takes him back again.
– Police arrange for a panic alarm to be installed in Ms Dawes’s flat.
– June 13, 2022 – Wellings pushes Ms Dawes over the back of their sofa, grabs and hits her after she answered Wellings back, which ‘triggers his anger’.
– July 4, 2022 – Kiena drives into the back of a car, telling paramedics, she forgot she was on the road and was thinking about taking her own life and that she needs help.
– July 11, 2022 – Covered in blood, Kiena calls 999 reporting Wellings had ‘launched’ her into a bathroom radiator knocking it from a wall and slammed a door in her face, knocking her out and cutting her head. She is treated in hospital for her injuries. Wellings is arrested and bailed not to contact Ms Dawes.
– July 17, 2022 – Wellings calls Kiena in the early hours of the morning with threats. She reports this to police but it is not treated as a breach of bail, leaving her feeling ‘unsupported’.
– July 22, 2022 – Kiena is killed on a railway line. She had left her daughter with a friend along with a suicide note saying, ‘Ryan Wellings killed me’.
Kiena’s brother Kynan Dawes added: ‘I introduced Kiena to this monster, and I will regret that for the rest of my life. My feelings around what happened to Kiena have been made worse by the fact that Wellings has showed absolutely no remorse for how he treated her.
‘At least now he can spend the rest of his life being viewed as an abuser and person who beats up women.
‘I want people to see that domestic violence is not OK and men should respect their partners by showing them nothing but love and kindness.
‘I do feel that justice has been served. Kiena wanted Ryan Wellings to be held responsible for what he put her through and, perhaps more importantly, the world now knows what a monster he is.’
Kiena called the police at least five times in the months before she died.
But despite her visible injuries – including a black eye while heavily pregnant – officers took her word for it when she later downplayed the complaints.
She was terrified of Wellings, who would threaten her saying she would have the baby taken off her if she revealed what was really going on.
A final battering 11 days before her death ‘broke’ Kiena. This time she did find the courage to make a statement to police and her tormentor was finally arrested.
But they refused to lock him up when he flouted his bail conditions and threatened her again.
With nowhere left to turn, she ended her life four days later.
Three Lancashire Police officers are facing disciplinary hearings over the case.
How to seek help if you feel you are being driven to self-harm as a result of domestic abuse
Women’s Aid said: ‘It is important that survivors know that they are not alone, and that organisations like Women’s Aid are here to listen and provide support. If you, or someone you know, has experienced domestic abuse and you need help, please reach out to Women’s Aid via our Live Chat or email our Direct Services Team.’
Local support can be found by using their Domestic Abuse Directory
Samaritans are available on 116 123 or at www.samaritans.org/how-we-can-help/contact-samaritan/
If the worst happens, contact Advocacy After Fatal Domestic Abuse for free support and specialist advocacy, via email at help@aafda.org.uk or call 07887 488 464
Other useful links:
National Domestic Abuse Helpline – 0808 2000 247 (free phone run by Refuge)
The Men’s Advice Line, for male domestic abuse survivors – 0808 801 0327 (run by Respect)
The Mix, free information and support for under 25s in the UK – 0808 808 4994
National LGBT+ Domestic Abuse Helpline – 0800 999 5428 (run by Galop)
Live Free from Fear Helpline – 0808 8010 800 (run by Welsh Women’s Aid this helpline supports men and women and provides support in English and Welsh)
Rights of Women advice lines, there are a range of services available
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