A ‘narcassist’ thug who confined his girlfriend to their eighth-floor flat and threatened to ‘gut out’ their unborn baby during a row has been jailed for three years.
Thomas Fosbrook, 33, of Stockport, Greater Manchester, embarked on a two-year campaign to control the movements of Holly Jepson, 23, whom he met at work, then set about cutting her off from family, friends and the ‘outside world’.
The restaurant chef removed all the interior doors to their eighth-floor tower block apartment so she had no privacy – and even painted over the windows so no one could see inside.
Manchester’s Minshull Street Crown Court heard that Fosbrook changed the intercom system so Miss Jepson could not let anyone in and whenever they did go out, he kept a hammer in their oldest child’s pram in case she challenged him.
Miss Jepson said she ‘suffered egotistical and narcissistical abuse’ and even considered taking her own life.
Miss Jepson had to resort to getting provisions from food banks as he squandered all their money on drugs and whilst she was pregnant with their second child, he vowed to ‘gut out’ the unborn infant during a row.
She eventually escaped after she sent a clandestine SOS email to her mother and police rescued her from their spartan flat in the Lancashire Hill area of Stockport, Greater Manchester in May this year.
A judge said he treated Holly as ‘nothing more than an object to satisfy [his] demands’
In a statement the victim who has been left with debts of £1,400 said: ‘I always find misery and heartache when I think about what he has put me and my children through.
‘It makes me feel so stupid and naive and I wish I was one step ahead of him. The fact is it did not take long for me to fall deeply in love with him. He targeted me and controlled me because I was young.
‘Within the first year, there were signs of coercive and controlling behaviour. We moved into his father’s flat and I saw my friends and family less and less. We put our wages together and money went out every month but it would fund his drug addiction.
‘He demanded for me not to talk to any other men at the restaurant where we worked at and he made it clear I was to dress the way he wanted me to.
‘I felt socially awkward everywhere I went. He mentioned if any other men were to look at me he would kill them. He said he was jealous of my own mother.
‘He provided little or no help and I was in no state to question anything he said or did. I just spent every day with my thoughts.
‘We were living in total isolation for nearly two years. When we went out together, it was just for a quick shop. I rarely enjoyed going out.
‘He painted the rooms and windows as he was not wanting anyone to see from outside even though our flat is on the eighth floor. I feel sick to my stomach as to why he wanted so much privacy.’
