Handsome, charming, a “gentle giant” – Katie Yates believed Jason Smith was a real catch after meeting on a dating app.
But within months he had subjected her to relentless physical and mental abuse before raping her and attempting to drown her in the bath just before Christmas.
Katie, 42 and from Cardiff, has waived her anonymity as a victim of sexual assault to warn women to be wary of strangers they meet on dating apps who may pose as nice guys in an attempt to lure them in.
“You scroll on all the profiles with smiling photos and slick words but there are some people who should be looking for a therapist, not a girlfriend,” she said.
Warning: This story contains distressing content and discussion of domestic abuse
Katie had been single for five years when she signed up to a dating app in February 2018.
At the time she was 35, a single mum of two, and had endured a painful divorce.
Smith, then 29 and a railway maintenance worker, messaged her and things seemed to be going well at first.
“He seemed so warm and friendly – like a gentle giant,” Katie said.
“He told me he had a child and loved being a dad. It was a bonus he was handsome, too.
“He complimented me and he asked me lots of questions, like he really wanted to know everything about me.”
‘He was a real catch’
Warning: Distressing image
Katie, who was a trainee hairdresser at the time, agreed to meet Smith when he asked her to meet him in a local Wetherspoons in his hometown of Pontypridd, Rhondda Cynon Taf.
She said: “He greeted me with a big smile and he had the brightest blue eyes. He was incredibly charming with an infectious demeanour.
“We’d talk for hours about everything. I even introduced him to my children.
“I felt so lucky, I believed Jason was a real catch. I honestly wondered why he hadn’t been snapped up already.”
Katie said Jason turned up at her house weeks into their relationship asked to move in with her temporarily because he’d fallen out with his landlord.
She said she “wasn’t ready for things to progress that quickly” but he was “very persuasive and sounded so desperate”, so she let him stay.
His behaviour soon changed.
“Jason began accusing me of fancying everyone in sight,” she said.
“One day he strangled me until I passed out after accusing me of fancying some random stranger. It was all pure fantasy in his head.”
Katie said the abuse and jealousy continued but she struggled to end the relationship.
Smith sometimes called Katie “70 times and demanded” she video-called him so he could see where she was.
On one occasion he told her his ex-girlfriend was “much more beautiful” and another time, Katie found he’d stolen money out of her child’s birthday cards.
“I got so used to wearing sunglasses, too, to hide my black eyes,” she said.
“I remember one day looking in the mirror and I barely recognised myself. I’d become so thin and fragile with the stress. I even had to give up my hairdressing course because I couldn’t concentrate on anything.”
‘Dad didn’t recognise me’
In the week before Christmas in 2018, Smith lost his temper and ripped Katie’s clothes and the children’s toy elves.
When they returned home from a holiday, he raped her, then four days later he held Katie’s head under the water in the bath because he thought she had been flirting with staff at a supermarket.
“He was so strong, my legs splashed frantically in the water. I thought he was going to drown me and I was going to die that moment,” she said.
“Finally, he released me as I spluttered and coughed, frantic for breath before he dunked my head under again.
“After he’d finished, I just sat in the bath, shaking and trembling, too terrified to even move.”
The following day, Jason beat Katie so badly she contacted her parents in fear of her life.
“My dad didn’t recognise me when he saw me. I looked like something out a Halloween movie. When my mum saw me, she broke down and was white with shock,” she said.
Katie reported Smith to the police, leading to the end of a 10-month campaign of abuse.
Despite him denying the charges during a trial at Newport Crown Court in 2019, a jury found Smith guilty of rape, assault occasioning actual bodily harm and assault by beating and he was jailed for 15 years. He was also given a restraining order for 10 years.
Katie said she still suffers “terrible flashbacks and nightmares”, adding she is terrified Smith will try to find her when he leaves prison when he is eligible for parole in 2027.
“I believe he will come looking for me and that really frightens me but I don’t regret speaking out – he was a danger to women.
“I thought I’d struck lucky when I met Jason, but I’d invited a monster into my life.
“For 10 months, my life was a living hell. It’s made me think twice about ever going on a dating app ever again.
“I am lucky to be alive. It’s taken a long time to rebuild my life.”
If you are affected by any of the issues raised in this story, support and advice is available via the Action Line.
