Liam Labourne, 34, of Bransholme, Hull, was jailed for three years after admitting controlling and coercive behaviour — regularly assaulting his girlfriend, including after going through her phone
A controlling bully violently slapped, punched and suffocated his petrified girlfriend after discovering a “Happy Birthday” message from another man on her mobile phone.
Liam Labourne routinely assaulted and intimidated the woman, including when he obsessively scrolled through her phone and discovered photos and messages that displeased him, Hull Crown Court was told.
Liam Labourne, 34, of Dulverton Close, Bransholme, Hull, confessed to using controlling and coercive behaviour in Scunthorpe between January 1 and August 4, 2024. He pleaded guilty on the day of a planned trial. Other charges were dismissed.
Ben Weeks, prosecuting, stated that Labourne and the woman, 26, began a relationship at the end of August 2023 and initially, it was positive. However, her sister noticed a change in her and, in early 2024, she alerted the police, who conducted a welfare check on the woman.
This marked “the start of things going wrong” and Labourne struck her for the first time, telling her: “Your family are all snitches.”
Things deteriorated significantly after this, with Labourne assaulting her, damaging her home and smashing mobile phones and other items.
“He would verbally abuse her, calling her names,” Mr Weeks said. The woman felt she couldn’t leave the house without Labourne and he insisted on accompanying her everywhere, reports Grimsby Live.
“Any time that she was without him, he would call and text her continually, calling her friends and her family to find out her whereabouts,” revealed Mr Weeks. Labourne regularly accessed and scrutinised her phone, even sending himself screenshots of pictures.
“He would assault her if he was unhappy with what he found,” Mr Weeks added. He slapped his girlfriend on July 14 in 2024 after he seized her mobile phone and she confronted him.
On July 29 in 2024, Labourne checked her phone and discovered a message from another man wishing her “Happy Birthday”. He responded by slapping her in the face, punching her in the ribs and suffocating her by forcing her head into her bed.
“When she refused to allow him to go through her phone, he smashed it on a table,” Mr Weeks explained. “She was so terrified that she fled, taking a knife with her for protection.
“She cowered behind bins in her underwear to hide from him. She waited until he left before re-entering and barricading herself in as he kicked at her door and climbed up to her bathroom window, shouting that he wanted his jacket.
“Eventually, he left. Following this, she received a number of calls from an unknown number that she believed to be him.”
On August 4 in 2024, she was heading to the shops in Scunthorpe around 8am when Labourne approached and got into her car while brandishing a baseball bat. “He was shouting at her and he told her to drive somewhere for a chat,” said Mr Weeks.
“She felt frightened. As they drove, he punched her to her arm. He continued with the verbal abuse.”
The couple were later confronted by the woman’s ex-boyfriend at a Scunthorpe supermarket, leading to a dispute between the two men. The police were summoned to the scene.
The woman was now a “shell of herself” and she felt “scarred for life”. She struggled with trust issues and felt worthless and stressed.
Labourne had a record of eight previous offences, several of which involved violence. These included an assault in October 2013, where he punched a girlfriend’s arm, as well as criminal damage incidents in April 2010 and January 2016.
The first incident saw him threatening a former girlfriend with a hammer and damaging her car with it. The second involved him throwing and damaging a coffee table and a mobile phone. He also had offences of breaching a non-molestation order in March 2010 and April 2016.
Nadim Bashir, defending, said that Labourne pleaded guilty, sparing the woman from having to recount her experiences at a trial. The relationship was not only marked by controlling and coercive behaviour but also genuine affection, as evidenced in numerous text messages.
Labourne had previously spent time in custody on remand before being granted bail. He was now in a new relationship and he and his girlfriend had a child aged about two months. He had been employed.
Labourne, who had been out on bail, was sentenced to three years in prison. He was also issued a seven-year restraining order and will be required to pay a £228 victims’ surcharge.
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