Jury hears of ‘acid attack’ threat in manslaughter trial

A man accused of driving his partner to suicide through domestic violence and abuse threatened to throw acid in her face, a court heard.

Ryan Wellings, 30, is accused of the manslaughter of Kiena Dawes, 23, who left a suicide note saying, “I was murdered … Ryan Wellings killed me.”

She left their eight-month-old daughter with a friend before taking her own life on a railway line on July 22 2022, Preston Crown Court heard.

Miss Dawes told a friend that Wellings threatened her, saying: “I’ll throw acid in your face and watch it burn.”

The hairdresser, from Fleetwood, Lancashire, met the defendant in January 2020 and was “swept off her feet”, her mother told the court.

He had her name and face tattooed on his body just a week later and proposed marriage within three months.

But it is alleged that Wellings began physically and emotionally abusing Miss Dawes soon after, and she told a friend their relationship was a “fairy tale turned into a nightmare”.

Wellings is also accused of assault and coercive and controlling behaviour between January 2020 and July 2022, which he denies.

On Monday, the third week of the trial, jurors were told of messages sent by Miss Dawes to her friend, Faye Hanlon, alleging Wellings’s threats.

One message from Miss Dawes about Wellings read: “He’s seen my story on Instagram.

“Said if I don’t delete it and speak to a lad he’ll throw acid in my face.

“His words were ‘You know Fearne McCann? What her boyfriend did? Remember I’ll do the same. I’ll throw acid in your face and watch it burn’.

“He said no one would ever want to look at stretch marks from pregnancy on my hips. I’m a disgusting fat bitch.

“That’s because I saw him on dating sites.”

Jurors have heard a number of times how Wellings allegedly slapped and attacked Miss Dawes, who told another friend: “Been bullied till there’s nothing left of me.”

Lawyers for Wellings, of Bispham, Lancashire, told jurors that Miss Dawes was a “troubled” woman, whose mental health issues pre-dated meeting him and her decision to kill herself was the result of “multiple factors”.

Earlier, the court heard Miss Dawes felt “let down” by Lancashire Police because, after Wellings had been arrested for allegedly assaulting her on July 11 2022, he had contacted her again with abuse, on the face of it a breach of his bail conditions, but no action was taken against him.

Eleven days later she took her own life.

The trial continues.