Possessive boyfriend, 34, who beat his girlfriend, 19, breaches restraining order

An abusive boyfriend who beat up, bullied and isolated his girlfriend from her friends breached the terms of his restraining order after he was spared jail.

Ella Crowe, 19, was left wanting to take her own life after she was physically and emotionally abused by 34-year old Liam Mountford during a ten-month relationship. 

In one incident Mountford offered to set up a noose so the teenager could hang herself and he also threatened to burn her mother’s house down.

During their relationship he also threatened to post naked pictures of Miss Crowe online and broke her phone to stop her contacting friends. 

Last June, Mountford, of Leigh, Greater Manchester, faced jail after admitting coercive behaviour but was given a suspended jail sentence and banned from contacting Miss Crowe under the terms of a two year restraining order. 

Just nine days later the father-of-one sent her a ‘love heart’ emoji via Snapchat and he was re-arrested. Miss Crowe was said to be so terrified at getting the emoji she moved to a secret address in Wales in a bid to get away from him. 

On Monday at Bolton Crown Court, Mountford admitted breaching a restraining order but was spared prison for a second time and given another two month jail sentence suspended for 18 months.

He was also given an extra 30 hours to the 120 hours unpaid work he had already been ordered to complete and pay £420 costs. 

He has served a total of just nine weeks in jail over his terror campaign against Miss Crowe – which he completed whilst he was on remand.

Miss Crowe has now gone public to condemn the doubters who told her to ‘sit down and shut up’ when she decided to report him to police. 

In her Facebook post Miss Crowe said: ‘Even though his sentence is absolutely shocking for what he’s put me through over the past year, at least now I can finally stand here knowing that all you people that were in denial of his actions, everyone who said it was my own fault, everyone who told me to ”sit down and shut up” and everyone who wasn’t there for me when I needed you the most and called me a liar now feels stupid.

‘The amount of pain and emotional torture this man has put me through has by far been the worst thing I’ve ever had to endure. 

‘From the start to the end of the relationship I was controlled, bullied, isolated, abused and made to feel absolutely worthless.

‘He damaged me in so many ways, destroyed me as a person, humiliated me, bullied and traumatised me, stripped me of my personality. What 34-year-old man would want to do that to a 19-year-old girl?

‘I was powerless and defenceless against him he completely overpowered me and time and time again people allowed it to happen before their own eyes. And now after finally plucking up the courage which took me a very long time to speak out and do something about it, this is the outcome I get.

‘The system has absolutely failed me. So now I will still be looking over my shoulder everywhere I go, whilst this woman beating scumbag walks the streets.’ 

Mountford’s relationship with Miss Crowe started in June 2020 but he became possessive and and whenever she tried to visit friends or family, he would falsely accuse her of cheating on him.  

He would video-call her and insist she show him around wherever she was in order to prove to him she was not with other men and broke her phone to stop her contacting friends.

On one occasion Miss Crowe walked away from Mountford but he began screaming at her as he followed her down the street. Passers-by intervened but Mountford returned in a van and forced his girlfriend to get in and crouch in the footwell.

On another occasion, Miss Crowe woke up in bed to find Mountford ‘in her face’ telling her he had checked messages on her new phone and ‘wasn’t happy with what he’d found.’

He told her to leave but as she gathered her clothing and other belongings, he told her: ‘If you walk out that door I’ll drag you back in by your hair and burn your mum’s house down.’ 

Mountford then threw the items onto the roof from a shed and as she tried to leave again, he bundled her into furniture, which caused bruising to her legs and feet.

He spat at her multiple times and called her a ‘sl**’, a ‘tramp’, and a ‘liar’, before telling her that he ‘hoped she died a long and painful death’.

Mountford then picked up some weights and held them above her head, which made the woman think that he was going to attack her.

She later went to her parent’s house and she told them about the abuse.

Mountford was subsequently sentenced to 12 months imprisonment, suspended for two years and complete 120 hours unpaid work on June 28 this year.

But on July 7 Miss Crowe uploaded a selfie to Snapchat to which Mountford posted the love heart emoji. She was said to be ‘shocked’ and police were alerted. She was initially too scared to give a statement but agreed after she felt it was the ‘best way to feel safe.’

In a statement to police she said: ‘I fear Liam will attempt to find me – I am currently staying with a friend in Wales as I do not fell safe living in Leigh. I was scared and shocked at the latest incident.’

An offender management report on Mountford said there were ‘limited controls’ in place to manage him in the community particularly if he was residing with women. 

Mountford had 39 offences on record including GBH, racially aggravated assault and numerous breaches of court orders.

In mitigation defence counsel Paul Treble said: ‘This is not worst breach of a restraining order. She was on Snapchat and looking at his photos and that’s why he sent the emoji. He hasn’t tried to contact her again.’

Sentencing the judge Mr Recorder Michael Maher increased the length of the restraining order to five years and told Mountford: ‘It is said you belittled her, isolated her and controlled her phone and demonstrated jealous possessive tendencies and yet you showed a complete disregard for the court’s orders.

‘She now thinks the restraining order is not long enough and has moved to Wales in order provide herself with a sense of security. It could be said this emoji might have been the preface for more threatening contact but none has been more forthcoming. Take the message – stop contacting her, you have run out of chances.’