UK man jailed for 16 years after 'decades of domestic abuse,' says police

By Burak Bir

LONDON (AA) - A 39-year-old British man was sentenced to 16 years imprisonment after being found guilty of "physical and psychological abuse," according to police on Saturday.

Dean Martin Kelly from Wandsworth, southern London, was jailed for 16 years in prison following a 12-day trial at Kingston Crown Court on Friday, Metropolitan Police said in a statement.

He was found guilty of bodily harm, criminal damage, sexual assault, controlling and coercive behavior, and assault by penetration, as well as threats to kill.

The victim, Dean's partner, said at the court that she faced physical and emotional abuse during their 22-year relationship before her reporting the offenses in April last year, said the police.

"I have suffered in silence for 22 years, silenced by my own fear and too afraid to speak up thinking there was no way out after years of abuse, but there was. The evening I called 999 undoubtedly saved my life," she noted.

When she made the call, the victim said she was facing two kitchen knives and that Dean was telling in front of their children that he was going to kill her, while she had also been beaten and sexually assaulted that evening.

"From the vulnerable young age of 16 to 38 I have been a victim of domestic abuse and under the control of Dean's cohesive, obsessive, possessive, and controlling behaviour. He was so manipulative and treated me as his possession," she added.

The court also heard on the voice record of her call to 999 that she was whispering: "Police, police, please, please."

"Dean controlled every aspect of my life, down to what I ate, what I wore, who I spoke to, where I went and my finances," underlined the victim.

In the statement, Detective Inspector Simon Sherlock called on those who have been victims of domestic abuse to report it to the police.