Victoria Scheer News, Yorkshire
A former professional boxer who subjected an ex-partner to a prolonged campaign of emotional abuse has been jailed for three years and three months.
On the second day of his trial at Sheffield Crown Court, Richard Hayles, 46, pleaded guilty to coercive and controlling behaviour.
His ex-girlfriend told the court that Hayles, from Sheffield, but who most recently lived in Greenview Drive, Rochdale, had left her in debt and he would “torture my mind” with insults, threats and hours of lectures on “how to be a woman”.
Addressing him in court on Wednesday, she said: “You controlled every aspect of my life, even the tiniest things, and made me believe that’s just how a woman should be.”
In addition to his sentence, Hayles, who used to be a heavyweight professional boxer and who has since worked as a boxing coach and has trained children, will also be subject to a 10-year restraining order.
The court heard Hayles, also known as Richard Towers, had committed the offence during a suspended sentence order for a firearms offence and that he had previous convictions, including for his involvement in the kidnap and torture of a man for a £150,000 ransom in 2001.
Katherine White, prosecuting, told the hearing that during the pair’s 18-month relationship, Hayles had repeatedly called his partner “emotionally unstable” and “hormonally imbalanced”, and whenever she had stood up to him he had described her as “masculine”.
Ms White said Hayles had frequently made degrading comments, calling his then partner “damaged”, “only good for sex” and telling her no one would want a woman with three children.
The woman was left “fearing for my life on numerous occasions”, the court heard.
Hayles had used veiled threats referencing past court cases and people giving evidence against him to ask if she wanted to “go down that route”.
Ms White said Hayles was “in charge of the household”, deciding what the family would eat or drink and controlling sleeping arrangements.
He also left his then partner, who was 38 at the time, in debt, resulting in the loss of her property in Rotherham.
The court heard that Hayles would lecture her on “how a woman should be”, make her grade herself and make her watch content from YouTuber Kevin Samuels, who promotes traditional gender roles.
At one point, he also made one of her children listen to controversial British-American influencer Andrew Tate, verbally abused them and told the child he would shoot them if they ever stood up for their mother.
In evidence given to police, the child said they had developed “a secret code” with their mother to communicate during Hayles’ abuse.
In a statement read to the court, Hayles’ former partner said: “We lost our home. You took hold of my mind and voice, but worst of all you took away my children’s happiness and peace.
“I do wonder if you feel any remorse for what you have done. Only a monster would show up and pretend to love someone and then destroy them in the background.”
The woman called Hayles an “evil, manipulating bully” who had made her feel humiliated, guilty, isolated and scared to leave him.
She described how domestic violence “does not always appear as cuts and bruises”, but could involve a victim losing their sense of self and self-worth, leaving “a dead look in your eyes” and “stripping you of your will to go about your day”.
Addressing him in court, she said: “You are actually our biggest lesson: who not to be; how not to be; what not to become; and what not to accept.
“We’ve got our peace back now and our future looks bright again.”
Judge Jeremy Richardson KC, the Recorder of Sheffield, stressed Hayles was not being sentenced for his “perverted views about masculinity”, but said this was “a serious case of its kind”.
“You indulged in a catalogue of acts trying to subdue a relatively young woman who had children,” the judge told him.
“You did so over a period of time when you were in a relationship with her, in a cruel and persistent fashion, repeatedly endeavouring to belittle her and, up to a point, one of her children.”
If you have been affected by the issues raised in this story you can visit the Action Line for support.
