Jealous boyfriend stopped girlfriend visiting child's grave

A CONTROLLING boyfriend dictated what clothes his partner wore and stopped her wearing makeup.

- By ESTHER HALLIGAN [e-mail]

CJ Richardson, 21, constantly accused his girlfriend of being unfaithful and made her take photos and send them to him - to prove where she was when they weren't together. Richardson made it difficult for his partner to see her mum everyday and visit her sister.

When she made arrangements to visit family who live further afield, he threatened to kill himself and his partner stopped seeing her relatives. She also stopped visiting her child’s grave - after Richardson made it clear he didn’t want her to go.

Teesside Crown Court has heard that the victim's family were eventually able to make her see that the way she was being controlled was wrong.

The woman ended the relationship and a family member called the police. On Thursday, Richardson wept as he appeared in court on video link from Holme House Prison.

Emma Richardson, prosecuting, said that the couple's relationship deteriorated months after it began as Richardson called his partner a “s***” a “s***” and began to get jealous when she saw her friends.

The court heard that the jealous dad went through his partner’s phone when she was asleep, and deleted the screenshots she had taken of his text messages to her - something Ms Richardson said was done “to destroy any evidence” the woman was gathering.