Caught on CAMERA

Gemma Laidler had all the evidence she needed after her relationship turned violent

- ANNA MATHESON, CHELSEA HEATLEY

Hindsight is a remarkable thing and when I look back now at when I first met Ryan in April 2021, there were certainly red flags, but at the time, I simply couldn't see them. A positive person, I've always seen the good in people, and Ryan seemed so genuine and kind.

I was doing a friend a favour, showing prospective tenants around his rental and Ryan had come along for a viewing. We got chatting and he told me that he’d previously worked as an engineer, but trauma in his past meant he'd turned to drugs. He told me he was clean now and I admired his honesty.

I'd lost my own brother to drugs in 2007, so I knew how hard it was to break free from addiction, but Ryan seemed to be doing well.

After that, we began dating and by September, Ryan and I had decided to live together and he moved into my bungalow, with his Jack Russell Pomeranian cross, Khalisi, who fortunately got on well with my Staffordshire bull terrier, Bobdog, and my French Bulldog, Blue.

Besides, I'd had cameras installed at home so it was easy to keep an eye on the dogs while I was out.

Then, one day in December, I noticed something off about Ryan. As we were watching telly, his eyes were wide, pupils black and I had a suspicion he'd taken drugs. I broached the subject with him, but he was furious, shouting at me for accusing him. It was a side I'd never seen and I just put it down to a one-off but over the next few months he became more moody, chucking cans of lager across the room and punching the walls over the smallest of things.

Drunken rages

In August 2022, we were sitting down for dinner, when he got annoyed about something I said and chucked his plate on the floor in anger.