Melksham man jailed for controlling and coercive behaviour

A man from Melksham has been jailed after repeatedly controlling and threatening a woman.

Joe Martin, 28, appeared at Salisbury Crown Court on Monday 17th August, where he pleaded guilty to controlling and coercive behaviour.

He was jailed for nine months and made subject to a restraining order for five years.

Between 7th and 18th February, Martin repeatedly threatened and attempted to control the victim, a woman in her 20s.

On one occasion, he found the victim in a pub in Bath before trying to remove her by grabbing her and locking her in his car. He then threatened her, took her phone to stop her calling for help, threatened to pay someone to cut off her head and threatened to deliberately crash the car they were travelling in.

The victim reported the abuse to the police and Martin was arrested, charged and remanded into custody.

A/PS Surgey, from Wiltshire Police’s Volume Crime Team, said, “Martin’s actions were absolutely awful and have caused significant stress and anxiety to the victim.

“I would like to commend her for her bravery and courage in reporting his behaviour to the police and seeing this through to conviction.

“I hope this sentence provides the victim with the time and space they need to process what happened and begin to heal.

“Targeting and reducing violence against women and girls is a Force priority and we will always act robustly to bring domestic abuse perpetrators before the courts.”

Support organisations for victims of domestic abuse can be found here: https://shorturl.at/OiBHT

If you need the police but are unable to talk due to your situation, you can dial 999 and press 55 instead of asking for the police. More information can be found here: https://shorturl.at/kwxGm