James Stubbs, 24, left the woman feeling like she was constantly walking on eggshells and fearing he would kill her, Teesside Crown Court heard.
He refused to let her leave his address, he damaged her phone and clothing so she could not go out, and directed abusive and humiliating insults at her.
As part of his “regime of controlling behaviour”, he would force his victim to lie down on the bed while he “inspected” her by assaulting her. He would tell her it was “to see whether she had been with another man”, the court heard.
Stubbs, of Whiby Way, Darlington, admitted being coercive and controlling towards the woman, and assaulting her in June last year.
He was found guilty after a trial in November of two charges of assault by penetration, and appeared before Teesside Crown Court again on Wednesday (January 8) via video link from HMP Durham to be sentenced.
James Stubbs. (Image: DURHAM POLICE)
Stubbs appeared to shake his head in shock as a judge told him he would spend at least two-thirds of the next 10 years behind bars.
The court was told how Stubbs tore up her clothing, restricted what she could wear, and told her when and who she would go out and see.
Reading from the woman’s victim impact statement prosecutor Ian West KC told how she still feels the trauma of Stubbs’ offending.
He read: “I have been unable to sleep at night thinking he’s still out there even though he’s in prison.
“It feels like I see him everywhere I go.
“James has made my life and my family’s life a living hell. I have lost my beautiful daughter to adoption.
“I will have to live with the trauma for the rest of my life. I can’t leave the house without having a panic attack.
“I felt like every day was survival mode for me not knowing what James was going to do to me next.
“[He told me] if I stepped out of place he will end my life and talked me through how he would do it. He would explain how he would get away with it without anybody finding out.
“I always used to think about writing letters to my family in case James did take my life – I was in constant feat that he was going to kill me.
“I have been left with physical and mental scars to my body my for my whole entire life because of him.”
The 24-year-old has already racked up a backlog of three criminal convictions including for battery and assault, and further cautions including one for assault back in 2022.
Stubbs appeared at Teesside Crown Court (pictured) via video link from HMP Durham for sentence. (Image: CHRIS BOOTH)
Mitigating, Caroline McGurk KC told the court Stubbs “acknowledges that the offending behaviour was wrong”.
She told how he spent his childhood in and out of the care system and was removed from mainstream school due to his behaviour and that he has been unemployed since 2020 and spent his days since gaming and smoking cannabis.
Sentencing him to 10 years in prison Judge Aisha Wadoodi said: “You threatened and inflicted violence upon her. You said things such as ‘I have got a hammer’, you called her abusive names, you tried to control how she dressed, whether she was allowed to go out, you blocked her contacts from her phone and on one occasion you broke her phone.
“Your behaviour was truly appalling.
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“She describes how she had to walk on eggshells and you told her to keep the blinds closed so that no one would see her from the outside.
“She was so frightened about what you would do to her [that] she thought you were going to kill her she wrote letters to her family just in case.”
Stubbs will also be subject to a restraining order and sex offender notification requirement.