A mother who was tortured and almost killed by her ex partner has been ordered to send him regular letters and photographs of their children under parental rights laws.
Natalie Allman, 29, from Herefordshire, was attacked in front of her two young children in 2011 by former Territorial Army soldier Jason Hughes, 42.
In an ordeal that lasted over seven hours, Hughes attempted to smother her to death with a pillow and bludgeoned her repeatedly with dumbbells. He also slashed her throat in a 20cm-long cut, narrowly missing her major artery, the Daily Telegraph reports.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
"His intention was to cause a hideous scar she could not hide if she had dressed up to look pretty," the former soldier’s lawyer said during his trial. "He was trying to make her look ugly to other men."
Hughes was sentenced to nine years in prison in 2012 after he was found guilty of malicious wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. However, last year a judge granted him a residence and contact order.
The order requires Allman to send updates on their five-year-old twins at least three times a year, including photographs and details of their education, health and emotional development. If she fails to do so, she could face charges of contempt of court, resulting in a fine or even imprisonment.
"I'm so angry that the law still defends his parental rights and that he is still being allowed to control us from behind bars," she told the Sunday People.
"I feel betrayed that after everything he did his rights mean more than mine – more than my children's," she said. "We are the victims, not him. I thought he was going to kill me that night for no reason and my boys saw that. They were terrified."
Continue reading for free
We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.
Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.
-
Can HS2 get back on track?Today's Big Question West Midlands mayor offers business solution to keep northern leg but final decision may rest with Labour
-
'A purported ban on phones in schools is a lazy sleight of hand'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
The daily business briefing: October 3, 2023
Business Briefing Tesla sales slip despite price cuts, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella testifies in Google antitrust trial, and more
-
What we know about the Copenhagen mall shooting
Speed Read Lone gunman had mental health issues and not thought to have terror motive, police say
-
Texas school shooting: parents turn anger on police
Speed Read Officers had to be urged to enter building where gunman killed 21 people
-
DJ Tim Westwood denies multiple sexual misconduct allegations
Speed Read At least seven women accuse the radio and TV presenter of predatory behaviour dating back three decades
-
What happened to Katie Kenyon?
Speed Read Man charged as police search for missing 33-year-old last seen getting into van
-
Brooklyn subway shooting: exploring New York’s ‘steep decline in law and order’
Speed Read Last week, a gunman set off smoke bombs and opened fire on a rush-hour train in the city
-
How the Capitol attack investigation is splitting the Republicans
Speed Read Vote to censure two Republican representatives has revealed deep divisions within party
-
Is sentencing a Nazi sympathiser to read Shakespeare an appropriate punishment?
Speed Read Judge seemed to think introducing student ‘to high culture’ would ‘magically make him a better person’ said The Daily Telegraph
-
Sarah Everard’s murder: a national reckoning?
Speed Read Wayne Couzen’s guilty plea doesn’t ‘tidy away the reality of sexual violence’
