A man was caught attempting to hang his girlfriend with a piece of rope after CCTV footage from his own home recorded the entire incident.
Stefan Carr, 28, was filmed lifting partner Bethany Marchant, 24, off the ground by her neck with a hangman’s noose he had created using a rope.
The 28-year-old was also recorded putting his arm across her throat as his girlfriend clearly struggled to breathe in the horrifying footage which has since been released.
You can watch the moments leading up to the attack below:
The attack occurred on May 5 this year at Carr’s home in Castleford, West Yorkshire, and left his partner with 50 bruises. Bethany, a dance teacher, was subjected to a terrifying three-hour ordeal in which Carr also attempted to suffocate her by placing a pillowcase over her face, a court heard.
The 24-year-old eventually persuaded her boyfriend to take her to hospital, but after driving a short distance he threatened to drive the car into a reservoir and drown them both.
Speaking after the hearing on Monday (September 23), Bethany, from Sherburn in Elmet, said:
I’m just glad he is locked up and that he can’t hurt anybody else. I just hope he has remorse for what he has done and that he gets the help that he needs to sort himself out and to not hurt anybody else.
It is really, really difficult. Day to day it is really hard to keep getting up and being a mum and a teacher. But I have to do it. If it helps another person then I have done myself proud and I have done my family proud.
I will never trust anybody again. He completely fooled me and manipulated me. The thought of being with anybody else or having anyone around my child – not a chance.
The couple became an item in September last year and had been together for just seven months at the time of the attack, which started as an argument in the early hours of the morning after a night out together.
Bethany was eventually forced into a van but managed to flee before Carr was arrested by police who had been called by concerned neighbours.
Since the attack, the dance teacher has been diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and in a victim statement supplied to the court, Bethany described how she could no longer sleep with pillows on her bed.
Sentencing Carr, Judge Penelope Belcher said:
You know where she lives and she was convinced that you would come to her and kill her. You have also threatened to hurt her son. She cannot bear to think about you hurting her little boy. She has lost all confidence and faith and trust in people.
Carr, who has a history of serious domestic violence offences against women, pleaded guilty to an attempted Section 18 GBH assault. This week, he was sentenced to 11 years and three months at Leeds Crown Court for four counts of assault and one of attempted assault.
Two of the charges relate to attacks on his previous partner, who had left him in April 2018. Carr had been on bail for those offences when he attacked Bethany in May this year.
Speaking after the hearing, Bethany said she hoped that by speaking out about her ordeal it will encourage other victims of domestic violence to come forward, adding: ‘We can lock these people away. You do not have to be scared. Just come forward like I did.’
Our thoughts are with Bethany as she recovers from this terrifying ordeal.
If you have a story you want to tell send it to UNILAD via story@unilad.com
A Broadcast Journalism Masters graduate who went on to achieve an NCTJ level 3 Diploma in Journalism, Lucy has done stints at ITV, BBC Inside Out and Key 103. While working as a journalist for UNILAD, Lucy has reported on breaking news stories while also writing features about mental health, cervical screening awareness, and Little Mix (who she is unapologetically obsessed with).