A woman has told how she was forced to beg for her life as her ex-boyfriend beat her up, strangled her, doused her in lighter fluid as he whispered he was going to burn her – because she rejected his marriage proposal.
Helen Byrom has bravely spoken for the first time after her ex Vincent Bowen beat her so badly police officers thought her blonde, blood-soaked hair was dyed red. Despite being convicted of grievous bodily harm he was jailed for just 28 months of which he will serve only half. “It’s sickening,”
Miss Byrom said. “I was horribly injured and he will be out in October – free to walk the streets. “When he attacked me he was like a wild animal. “He got a short sentence but I’ve been left with a life sentence.”
Miss Byrom, a team manager for a local authority, had been dating Bowen for three years when she broke up with him in September 2013. He moved out of her home in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, but a month later returned and proposed to her.
Miss Byrom rejected his proposal, but felt sorry for him and said he could live in her house as a lodger. She then started another relationship, but her and unemployed Bowen remained good friends. Only on August 2, 2014, Bowen came home drunk and launched into a vicious attack.
After punching Miss Byrom multiple times in the face, he strangled her then doused her in lighter fluid and whispered, ‘I’m going to burn you.’
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